Hope

I was out with my cake-stealing dog this morning and it was very cold. We walked across the fields, said hello to some other dog-walkers and enjoyed the fresh morning. Unusually, I didn't sink up to my knees in the mud. The earth was frozen solid and the grass was white with a very hard frost.

Despite the cold weather and the economic gloom, Christmas still seems to invoke a feel-good emotion for most of us. I don't know what it is about that Christmas feeling, but it always asks us to imagine something better than we've currently got. It asks us to think of a time when circumstances could be better and suddenly we are dreaming about snow on the ground and happy families; grandads laughing with the kids and a large (perfectly cooked) turkey in the background.

Christmas seems to invoke the spirit of God who wants more for his children - not more money or things, but a better way of life coming out of a relationship with the baby in the manger, then the man, Jesus. As if Godis saying in true story book style, 'Come in and know me better'.

As I was thinking about this, it started to snow big heavy flakes. I thought this might be a taste of things to come. That's what Christmas seems to be telling us: there is something more and we find that 'something' in the manger. Suddenly it doesn't have to be in the future, it can be right now. I love Christmas.