Ready for Christmas?

So often I feel blinded by the secular meaning of Christmas:  gifts, giving, receiving, spending, gifts, decorations, trees, lights, and gifts.  I often overlook and even forget about the true meaning of Christmas... the best gift of all.  John 3:16 says, "For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life."  That, my friends, is the best gift of all!!!!  We may be ready for Christmas as society sees it today... but are we ready for the true reason for the season?  I would like to share a poem with you.  It was in a devotional I read this morning and is so true... it spoke to my heart and I pray it does to yours as well!!
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Ready For Christmas?

“Ready for Christmas,” she said with a sigh,
As she gave a last touch to the gifts piled high,
Then wearily sat for a moment and read,
Till soon, very soon, she was nodding her head.

Then quietly spoke a voice in her dream,
“Ready for Christmas? What do you mean?
Ready for Christmas when only last week
You wouldn’t acknowledge your friend on the street.

“Ready for Christmas, while holding a grudge?
Perhaps you had better let God be the judge,
Why, how can the Christ-child come and abide
In the heart that is selfish and filled with pride?

“Ready for Christmas when only today
A beggar lad came and you turned him away
Without even a smile to show that you cared?
The little he asked – it could have been spared.

“Ready for Christmas? You’ve worked, it is true,
But just doing the things that you wanted to do.
Ready for Christmas? Your circle’s too small –
Why, you are not ready for Christmas at all!”

She awoke with a start and a cry of despair,
“There’s so little time and I’ve still to prepare.
O Father, forgive me, I see what You mean,
To be ready means more than a house swept clean.”

Yes, more than the giving of gifts and a tree,
It’s the heart swept clean that He wants to see;
A heart that is free from bitterness, sin –
Ready for Christmas – and ready for HIM.

~Author Unknown~