From an Asian land of coconut trees and elephants, let me say

Merry Christmas.

Whether you celebrate today in your home with family or at the table of friends,

Merry Christmas.

And if this day brings the missing of a loved one or the birth of new life,

if it brings the chaos you savor or a quietness you’d rather not hear,

Merry Christmas.

And, this holiday, if you celebrate with gifts or service,  prayers or feasts,

I hope your day is saturated with the

Merry of Christmas.

Because the epic gift of God Came Down, is big enough for the globe.

It is “Joy to the Whole World”–

To the American businessman and to the African orphan.  To the Burkka-clad wife and to the Asian prostitute.  To the Indian leper and the English moviestar and the little boy in a remote village.

Jesus brings Joy to the World—

to all of humanity and in each story, on every latitude walked and in every space of timeline breathed.  The gift of the Great Stooping, is a message that speaks Rescue and Freedom,

on every patch of dirt, to every soul formed of the Clay.

Because Christmas is not about the people, things or experiences just beyond reach. Christmas is a celebration that the Baby Jesus is all our hands ever need hold. The gift of Him is abundance unimagined; it is a gift that can make even the poorest of the poor,

rich.

So, my sister, from the rice fields of Thailand to the deserts of Africa.  From the concrete cold of the Ukraine to the snow-piled-high in Canada.  From the wet damp of San Francisco to the dry freeze of Colorado to the humid gray of the Carolinas,

Merry Christmas.

And may you find joy in the knowing that the Gift of the Baby has always been,

more than enough.

Laura Parker blogs at LauraLeighParker.Com {Life Overseas}.  She writes candidly about raising kids and loving orphans in SouthEast Asia, where her family serves at Breanna’s House of Joy.

Leave a Comment