Dear Friends, I love Christmas! It’s my favorite time of year. If it were up to me, I’d have put our Christmas tree up in September, but alas, my sweet and logical husband reigns in my Christmas spirit till at least the end of November and then our house becomes a winter wonderland of buffalo plaid, ribbon wreaths, and lights! I love the feel of Christmas, I love the smells of Christmas, and I love the sound of Christmas music playing everywhere we go. But what I love most about Christmas is that tiny baby, born in a manger with the mission to pay a debt I would never be capable of paying. Yes, Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year. And while we should always be mindful of that little baby in a manger, Christmas forces us to slow down and remember the beautiful gift of peace that was born that night. That gift of peace that has the power to transcend our current circumstances and minister to the quiet recesses of our hearts. It is a gift that began in the manger, was announced by the hosts of heaven, and has never once lost its power through the ages.

One of my favorite Christmas songs is Silent Night. While it's fun to rock around the Christmas tree, or roast chestnuts on an open fire while Jack Frost nips at your nose, Silent Night enwraps the meaning of Christmas so beautifully and simply. The history of this song brings even more beauty to its message. You see, Silent Night was written in Austria in 1816 just after the Napoleonic wars had ravaged and destroyed the country followed by a “year of no summer” in which the weather had devastated the crops. People were hungry, tired, and poverty-stricken. Hope seemed a distant concept, far from reach. Until Joseph Mohr penned the verses of Silent Night as a reminder to the people that there was still a God who cared for them.

The song, performed for the first time on Christmas Eve in 1818, became a reminder of hope across cultures, borders, and nations. In the Christmas Truce of 1914, during World War I, weapons were put down and soldiers sang Silent Night together on the battlefield in German, French, and English. Why? Why has this song lasted through the ages? Because the truth of the message fills us with the hope of the Savior. The truth of the message reminds us that even when political or social infrastructures seem to be crumbling around us, the love of our Savior will never crumble. This is the message I pray you will focus on this Christmas. This is the peace I pray you’ll know. It is a hope for the ages and a joy beyond your wildest imagination!

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Merry Christmas, Jodi Jodi Hendricks Executive Director New Mexico Family Action Movement Donate

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New Mexico Family Action Movement PO Box 52201 Albuquerque, NM 87181-2201 www.nmfam.org Protecting Families, Preserving Freedom 505-803-6366

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