Roy Rogers - A Happy Trails Christmas

S o lets put our love into action this Christmas.

How?

Wouldnt it be nice to visit Christ this Christmas by visiting those imprisoned by sin or sickness?

Wouldnt it be more Christlike for us to visit someone in need of food or clothes instead of exchanging a lot of gifts and gadgets which have little use?

Somewhere on the plains of Kansas there is a humble doctor who spreads the Christmas spirit in a chain reaction. As Christmas day comes closer and closer, the doctor writes every patient who owes him anything, canceling the bill as a sort of Christmas present! But... there is one little condition: the patient must contribute a similar amount to a worthy charity. The doctor writes the patient: Send us their receipt and we will close your account. It is a four-way gift: from the doctor to the patient to the charityand on to the unknown man or woman who benefits by it all! Why not try that this Christmas? Why not try a little actual forgiving of our debtors instead of just mumbling it over in the Lords Prayer?

Instead of worrying about what we should or should not pay for a gift for a friend, how about a donation for an orphanage in his name? You could send him a card saying that he has shared in some Christian Christmas giving with you.

How about offering Christ your talent this Christmas instead of some of your money? He wants the best you have to give, not the cheapest! Do you know the story of Why the Chimes Rang? It deals with a set of church chimes that rang only when someone offered a gift that came from the heart at Christmas. The rich gave their goldno, gave some of their goldbut the chimes were silent. The not-so-rich gave what they thought they could affordand the chimes did not ring. Finally there came a lame boy who had no money at all; he laid his crutches on the altarand the chimes rang! Ive always had an idea that the boy walked out of the church with a new strength, leaving the crutches behind.

Sacrificial giving to God always rings the bell.

How about giving up a grudge or a grievance or an imagined hurt this Christmas to get a little peace in your heart? Peace on earth, good will toward men! That heavenly announcement is printed on many of our Christmas cards. Do you know, my child, that many years before the Savior was born, a prophet named Isaiah foretold the birth of Jesus and said that he would be known as the Prince of Peace? Later, this Prince of Peace told us that peacemakers are blessedor happy. What he meant was that unless you have peace you can never be happy. Another time, he said that if we have anything against our brother, we should be reconciled (or make peace) with him before we offer a gift to God in his place of worship.

In Czechoslovakia, I am told, the people celebrate Christmas by visiting their friends and foes and forgiving any misunderstandings which might have arisen during the year. Christmas to them means the ending of old quarrels and the beginning of the new year among new friends. God must love that! He never gives us his peace until we have drowned every hate and grudge and bitterness in the great sea of his love and mercy. Only when we are at peace with others do we have Christmas in our hearts.

Or, you can gather up some of the things you dont use anymore, get them to one of those organizations that mend and restore them and send them out to folks who are in need. Remember the joy each item brought you: wish the same joy to the one who receives it from you, and you will find out how blessed it is to give with such a wish. For wishes, like thoughts, are things; this way, you will be sending two thingsa wish and a useful gift.