I love this time of year!  The Christmas season is filled with so many wondrous realities, the second most wondrous to me is the angels.  (The most wondrous is that God became a human being in the birth of Jesus!)  Ever since I was a little boy, which is now decades ago, I have loved to read the words of the angel who appeared to the shepherds outside of Bethlehem:  I bring you good news of great joy... Luke 10b (NLT)  GOOD news of GREAT joy. 

Life has always offered us bad news and times of despair.  Last night I dreamed about my Grandma Leda, who has been dead for many years.  The dream had some realities out of sequence, but the gist of it was my Grandma had died, and I was left in charge of her "stuff," but she had left no will, so I couldn't take care of her business.  I couldn't pay her bills, even though she had the money to pay them.  I couldn't even pick up her mail in Gipsy's little post office, even though Grace Berringer, the postmaster  KNEW me and knew Grandma would want me to do so.  What does this have to do with Luke 10b?  Everything, really!   I woke up so grateful it was just a dream, because the situation in the dream  brought both bad news (my Grandma had died), and great despair  (I missed her AND I was helpless to take care of her "stuff.")  What I needed in the dream was a  "savior,"  someone who could come in and make things right, but no one was there, no one came.  Why?  Because it was just a dream.  In real life someone AHAS come to bring good news and great joy, regardless of the circumstances we face­--Jesus!

As we go about this Christmas season, the message of the angels is true--we have been given good news of great joy---A Savior HAS been born.  He has not only been born, He has lived a perfect life, died on the cross to conquer our sins, risen from the grave to conquer death, returned to heaven for a time, and He will return to earth to claim His own!  That is GOOD news of GREAT joy for everyone who hears it and trusts in Him!  Have you?  Have you truly HEARD the news, and have you RECEIVED it in your heart?  If you have,  praise the Lord!  If you haven't, let this be the Christmas seasons you "wake up" as I awoke from my dream this morning, and be relieved that you no longer have to live with bad news and despair dominating your life. 

My prayer for all of us in this Christmas season is that the reality of the Christmas accounts in Matthew and Luke will draw us to see that not only are angels real, not only were Mary and Joseph amazing, not only did shepherds receive and spread the Good News of Jesus, but all these things are for US, not just for those who experienced them long ago!  Take a moment right now and ask yourself the vital question from the previous paragraph:  Have I received the Good News of great joy for myself? Is my reality that of Mary and Joseph who recognized from their experience that NOTHING is impossible with God?  If the answer is, "No," then take a moment right now to ask Jesus to come into your life, to erase the sins and despair of your life, and to give you the life that is truly life, only He can give!

Let's pray:  Heavenly Father, thank You for giving us the good news of great joy that a Savior is available to us in Christ Jesus, Your Son.  Fill us with the Holy Spirit that we may not only receive that good news, but live it out every moment.  This we pray in Jesus' name.  Amen.