Nails

For several years I worked in Christian retail. I realized it was time to leave when I began to dread Christmas. A couple of years before I found other means, a new product came out. It was the beginning of the Christmas season and a new batch of ornaments had just arrived. This new product was like nothing I had ever seen before. It was an ornament. And it was a nail. A huge nail. It was heavy and truth be told, nothing like the beautiful and quirky ornaments around it. Now, I don't know what kind of nails held our Savior on that Cross, but the point is that this new ornament is a moden representation of those nails. The instructions that with it stated that it is too heavy to hang on the outer branches of the Christmas tree. It isn't meant to be decorative. It is meant to be hung before anything else, even the lights. It is the foundation of the decorating of the tree.

Isn't that true of our walk with Christ? Aren't those nails and Cross the foundation of our lives? They are not meant to decorate our lives or make us look good. They are there to remind us that without those nails, our lives would be usless. Without those nails, there would be no reason to celebrate this month. If not for that Cross, we would live without hope.

I just hung that nail on my Christmas tree. Every year I hang it in the same area. And I stop and think every year. And I remember. I remember that without that Baby. Without the miracle of His birth, I would not know Him. But if He had never shed His blood. If He had decided that the Cross would be too hard to endure. If He had just gone fishing with the disciples instead, then all this would be in vain. But He didn't. He died. He rose back to life. Just for me. Just for you.

Remember that as you decorate your own tree. As you put up the lights. As you listen to the Christmas music radio station. All of these things point to the Cross. And those nails.

Merry Christmas!