One of my grandsons celebrated his birthday this month. I was out of the state that day and missed the cake and ice cream celebration. But on his birthday morning, I sent him a text that said, “I’m glad you were born!”

Birthdays are a celebration of who a person is, of what God added to the world and to our lives at the moment of one person’s birth.

What do we celebrate this Christmas? That a baby was born thousands of years ago? Why? What difference has the birth of that baby made for you? And what might our lives have been like if that baby had never been born?

As my Christmas greeting and gift to you, I offer seven short meditations. Let’s take a few moments on each of the next seven days to celebrate and rejoice at the birth of a Man who changed our lives forever.

Because of God’s tender mercy, the morning light from heaven is about to break upon us,
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
and to guide us to the paths of peace.
Luke 1:78-79