This is part of the series The Gifts Of The Holidays: Celebrating Thanksgiving And Christmas. Read more from the series!

As we start to wrap up the Gifts of the Holidays series, I want to take a look at one final gift: the gift of life.

There are lots of things that remind me of the gift of life, all year long:

• Flowers blooming in the spring.
• Caterpillars turning into butterflies.
• Robins singing.
• Baby chickens at Easter.

But nothing speaks of new life like a newborn baby.

Can you imagine the noises in that stable, as Mary and Joseph watched their newborn child? The crying, fussing infant squirming and wriggling as he adjusted to life outside of the womb. The slight smacking sound of suckling. The hushed exclamations of wonder and awe as two new parents looked into the face of their new child, knowing that they looked into the face of God.

How amazing that must have been!

I know how I have marveled at the miracle of life with the birth of each of my children. How much more marvelous to it must have been to see a new life, and yet see the one who gives life to all.

How absolutely incredible!

I’m sure the moment must have carried a taste of bittersweet, had they known then just what it would take to provide life for mankind. Giving us life will one day cost that baby everything, including his own life, on a cross, at the hands of those he came to save… you and me.

How unimaginably terrifying!

And yet, through that death, you and I have the opportunity to experience life, and life to the fullest. Because that baby was born to rescue us. That child arrived to redeem us. The Christ entered into humanity to reconcile us.

How utterly, gloriously, wonderful!

That child, fussing in the manger, came to bring us life.

Remember that this Christmas, as you celebrate the birth, remember the purpose.

Celebrate life!

Merry Christmas!

May your Christmas be full of love and joy, peace and hope, acceptance and forgiveness. And may it be full of life!