The Main Message of Christmas

I love this time of year.  I know it is easy to get exasperated with the commercialism, but I love how everyone gets a glimpse of eternity.   And with the approach of Christmas next week, I have been spending a lot of time pondering Immanuel, God with us, the main message of Christmas. How the One who created us became a man.  I love how the bible puts it: that He did not consider heaven as something to be grasped but instead made Himself nothing and took on the form of a servant – for us.  It reminds me so much of what I learned in my research about the surprising secrets of those who have happy marriages, for my upcoming book.  One of the most touching things I discovered among these highly happy couples is that they don’t consider happiness in marriage something to be grasped. They don’t consider that marriage is there to make them happy or that their partner is there to meet their needs. Rather, their focus is on how they can serve their spouse and meet their needs.  And as a result, they end up being far more content, joyful and enjoying their marriage so much more.  Now, they were clear that ‘serving the other person first’ didn’t always work out perfectly.  Just like Jesus coming to Earth, there were times of sacrifice and suffering. But in the end, it usually gave these selfless spouses what they most needed.   As I’m thinking about this approaching Christmas week, I hope you will take Immanuel, God with us, as an example for how we can serve those who are closest to us the same way Jesus did.