Christmas Hope

This splendid beauty makes me smile whenever I walk into my family room.

She has recently bloomed displaying showcase flowers of bright red against her backdrop of Christmas green. She joyfully announces the Christmas Season is here!!!

Friends, not only is she gorgeous, but to me personally, she represents a message of beautiful hope.

Why?

She speaks of hope because typically I killed any and every plant. Friends often gift me with a beautiful potted plant, only for it to live a few months in my home. However, this Holiday Cactus or the Schlumbergera truncata called by this botanical name has lived for three years in my care! With time she has grown from four inches with no blooms to twenty inches with bright pops of Christmas red.

Now, she is a grand centerpiece. In fact, she is a showcase! And if she can grow into something so beautiful, you and I can too! Perhaps, we just need a little more time to grow. With the hope of Christ inside us, we can trust Philippians 1:6, "He who began a good work in (me or) you will bring it unto completion in the day of Christ."

Note that this Holiday plant blooms only in this season. It is as if she knows to worship her Creator with a grand display. She knows there is a healing hope in the true Christmas story and is bursting to tell. I want to believe that somehow, she does share His rescue story of Hope in her own way.

Luke 2 tells us, "In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn."

And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

Friend, I don't know what you are facing today, but Christ brings a healing hope.

"He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed." Isaiah 53:3-5 ESV

Let this Christmas season be a time of remembering His grand hope and then sharing that good news. Like my Christmas plant, you and I can grow and bloom into His beautiful showcase of His message displaying His Hope! He came on this earth on a rescue mission and that is all I need. How about you?

From my Holiday cactus and me, may you be filled with hope and beauty this Christmas Season!!! Merry Christmas!