By Patti Garibay for THE CHRISTIAN POST
The Christmas season is such a special time for every Christian.
As a young girl, I marveled at the concept of the whole world knowing it is Christmas Day, a day set apart to celebrate the greatest gift ever given to humanity. Decades later, as I matured and saw more of the world and its rapidly changing post-Christian culture, I realized not everyone in this world acknowledges the day as miraculous. But as for me and my house … we will celebrate the season as the gift that it is, and was, and always will be.
Years ago, to order my heart during a very hectic month, I started a collection of nativity scenes. I began to see my collection growing and loved the idea of tangibly seeing the Gospel message shared across the globe through these sometimes-tiny nativities. While engaging in overseas travel, the one souvenir that is a “must-have” is that specific country’s iteration of the nativity scene. From Costa Rica to Germany, from Bethlehem to Kenya, I have entered the doors of small shops in search of a nativity representative of the country I am visiting. There are times during my travels, however, that the scenes are elusive, unavailable, unimportant. I pray for those people in those countries that the light of the Lord makes its way to their souls.
So why is the biblical nativity account, as mentioned in the New Testament and prophesied in the Old Testament, so important, so symbolic, so everlasting?
