This year’s Christmas post is a reprint of a Biblical Recorder post by Milton A. Hollifield Jr., North Carolina Baptist State Convention executive director-treasurer:

Every year I very much look forward to the Christmas season. I enjoy visiting with family, singing Christmas carols, and attending special church programs. I love to see the Christmas decorations in stores and towns. I also like to drive through neighborhoods and observe how people display their own expressions of the Christmas season through their decorations. I especially delight in observing the excitement of children as they enjoy this most special time of the year.

This year, I hope we will not be so busy that we fail to make some special Christmas memories that will not be soon forgotten. What can you do this year that will be remembered for years to come? Perhaps you will make a Christmas memory reading the story of Jesus’ birth with your family.

Or, maybe you will share with your children or grandchildren how you came to faith in Jesus Christ. Many of you know that Gloria and I have two young grandsons, and you can imagine how much we love those little boys. It is important to me that they will always be confident of my unconditional love for them, but I also hope they will always remember that their “Poppy” greatly loved the Christ of Christmas.

Due to the economic challenges in our state, many individuals and families will have much less materially than they have in some past years. Some parents are already worrying about how they will be able to help their young children have an enjoyable Christmas morning because they don’t even have sufficient money to pay their bills. Maybe God will impress on you to do something special during this Christmas season for someone who is not expecting a gift from you. Many of us have friends and neighbors who have not yet accepted the Christ of Christmas as their personal Savior. What better time than now to be intentional in our witness for Christ?

More people attend church on Christmas and Easter than any other Sunday of the year. Have you thought about inviting someone to attend a Christmas program at church with you? This could provide an opportunity for a follow-up conversation with them about receiving Christ. You just might get to enjoy a Christmas memory about the year when a family member or friend became a follower of Jesus.

In Luke’s account of the Christmas story, he tells us that following the visit of the shepherds, Mary was “treasuring up all these things in her heart and meditating on them.”

She remembered the significance of what was going on around her and what God allowed her to experience.

Let’s rejoice greatly in God’s incredible love to us through Jesus Christ! Will you do something this year to help create a Christmas memory?

“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, good will toward men.” Luke 2:13-14