Christmas excitement is so much a part of being a child. Who doesn’t remember counting down the days, eagerly anticipating the big event, asking, “When will Christmas be here?” To parents, the calendar seems to move faster and faster; the years speed by, and last Christmas seems but a few months ago. But the excitement, the joy of the season, can brighten grown-up hearts too. As the poet said:
“At Christmas play and make good cheer,
For Christmas comes but once a year.”1
And while that’s true, Christmas is a season we can carry with us always. We keep the spirit of the season throughout the year when we’re more concerned with what we can give than what we get. We continue the joy of the season when we savor the simple delight, the abundant happiness, the exquisite contentment that can radiate in our homes and hearts as Christmas comes.
These timeless words, spoken on this broadcast more than 50 years ago, still capture what the season is about:
“As Christmas comes, let it be a time that lights the eyes of children and puts laughter on their lips. Let it be a time for lifting the lives of those who live in loneliness; let it be a time for calling our families together, for feeling a nearness to those who are near to us, and a nearness also to those who are absent. Let it be a time of prayers for peace, for the preservation of free principles, and for the protection of those who are far from us. Let it be a time for re-examining ourselves, and for dedicating our lives to the values that endure.
“As Christmas comes let it be a new witness to the world of the mission and message of . . . the Prince of Peace. Let it be a time for thanksgiving, for faith in a finer future that ever comes closer as each Christmas comes.”2
1. Thomas Tusser, “The Fermers Dailie Diet,” in Five Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie, ed. W. Payne and Sidney J. Herrtage (1878), 28; spelling modernized.
2. Richard L. Evans, May Peace Be with You (1946), 200. © 1946 Richard L. Evans. Used with permission of the Richard L. Evans family.
Program #4083