9 Days Until Christmas!
Song: “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear,” by Kutless
Christmas Album: “Christmas: The Gift,” by Colin Raye
Christmas DVD: “The Polar Express”
Netflix Movie: “Mickey’s Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse”
Amazon Prime Movie: “Midnight Clear”
Hallmark Now Movie: “Pictures of Hollis Woods”
On TV:
• “Last Holiday,” 3:30 p.m., AMC
• “A Christmas in Tennessee,” 4 p.m., Lifetime
• “Entertaining Christmas,” 4 p.m., Hallmark
• “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation,” 6 p.m., AMC
• “A Very Nutty Christmas,” 6 p.m., Lifetime
• “Pride, Prejudice and Mistletoe,” 6 p.m., Hallmark
• “Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” 6:35 p.m., Freeform
• “The Sound of Music,” 7 p.m., ABC
• “Good Luck Charlie: It’s Christmas,” 7 p.m., Disney
• iHeartRadio Jingle Ball 2018, 8 p.m., CW
• “Disney Parks Presents a 25 Days of Christmas Holiday Party 2018,” 8 p.m., Disney
• “Meet Me in St. Louis,” 8 p.m., TCM
• “Hometown Christmas,” 8 p.m., Lifetime
• “A Gingerbread Romance,” 8 p.m., Hallmark
• “Elf,” 8:15 and 10:15 p.m., AMC
• NFL Football: Philadelphia at L.A. Rams, 8:30 p.m., NBC
• “Disney’s A Christmas Carol,” 9:15 p.m., Freeform
• “Reunited at Christmas,” 10 p.m., Hallmark
• “Christmas Around the Corner,” 10:03 p.m., Lifetime
• “A Miracle on Christmas Lake,” 11:20 p.m., Freeform
Recipe: Meemaw’s Kitchen Sink Christmas Cookies
Quick Thought for Christmas
Read
And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.
Matthew 1:19
Reflect
So much attention is focused on Mary at this time of year, and that’s only natural. After all, she was specially chosen by God to give birth to His only Son. But so little attention is actually focused on Joseph – and that’s also fairly natural. Since God was the actual Father of Jesus, Joseph is kind of the “odd man out.” Jesus wasn’t really his child, but without Joseph, this story of Christmas couldn’t be complete.
I’ve said on previous days that Mary’s life was at stake because of her premarital pregnancy. Under strict Jewish law, sex outside of marriage was often punished by stoning the guilty party to death. But even before he had an angel-influenced dream, Joseph protected Mary by seeking to quietly deal with her situation. He had every right to demand her death, but he showed godly character instead.
The amazing thing is that God was providing for what Jesus needed even before He was born. He knew that Joseph was a good man who would protect Mary so that Jesus could be born. He also knew that Joseph would be a good earthly father for Jesus, someone who could model manhood, teach him the important qualities in life and also provide a solid, stable home for his family.
The Lord provides for each of us the things we need, even if we don’t realize we’re going to need them. If you look around yourself, you’ll see the evidence of this – things that you have that you didn’t even really have to think about, right down to the air that you breathe.
In nine days, you’ll open presents, some of which may be things that you asked for. But before you get to the Christmas tree, start thanking God for providing the little things that you didn’t ask for. Put your heart in a spirit of thanksgiving so that no matter what you receive on Christmas, you can be truly grateful for what you unwrap.
Reflection copyright © 2018 by Doug DeBolt.
Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
