The Reason for THIS Season

As I sit here at work, debating the suspicious absence of funds in my checking account just one day after pay day, it has dawned on me that even after my proclamation to skip gift-buying this year (due to upcoming wedding dues), I am still stressing over how I'm to buy this and how am I to buy that. And I'm asking myself "why?" I had come to the conclusion (novel as it may be) that Christmas is not about gifts disguised in sparkly paper & bags; yet I've still been feeling wrong for not buying MORE gifts. Will everyone understand? Will they think badly of me when they don't get something from me? Would someone please shake me! What exactly am I worried about? The reason for THIS season did not come about because one day, thousands of years ago, two people happened to buy gifts for one another on the same day during the wintertime and decided to make it a yearly deal. And yet, strangely enough, it IS about a gift...a gift from heaven, a gift from God, a gift more precious than I think you or I can truly comprehend. Sure, this gift may have actually been given in the springtime, or the summertime, but we today celebrate it in this season. And while I think we're all a little guilty of letting this slip our overworked & overstressed minds, we know in our hearts and in our souls what the reason for this season is. So if you too are sitting somewhere, pondering what you have left to buy and how exactly you're going to buy it, ask somebody to shake you, too. Sadly, today's hustle-bustle world can skew our "reasoning" so easily...so stop, shake the cobwebs loose, relax for a bit and just gladly accept the most wonderous gift you'll ever receive. What other reason do you need? God bless you all, today and every day.