Author, Sharon K. Connell lives in Houston, Texas from where she writes Christian Romance Suspense, containing a bit of mystery and as much humor as she can get into a story. She’s also written many award-winning short stories in a variety of genres. Sharon attended college in Illinois, graduated from the Pensacola Bible Institute in Florida, and holds a certificate in fiction writing from the International Writing Program through the University of Iowa. She is a member of the American Christian Fiction Writers, Scribes Critique Group, Houston Writers Guild, and CyFair Writers. She is also the founder of the global Facebook Christian Writers & Readers group forum. Her monthly newsletter, Novel Thoughts, goes out every month to its subscribers in all parts of the world. Visit the offical website of Sharon K. Connell https://www.authorsharonkconnell.com/
My Christmas Blessing by Sharon K. Connell Well... the season is upon us. I can hear the groans and moans from all over the world. The hustle and bustle at this time of year leave many cold and unwilling to get into the spirit of Christmas. Is this you? It doesn’t have to be. Most of us know the twenty-fifth of December probably isn’t the day when our Lord Jesus Christ was born. No one knows the exact date. We know from the Scriptures He was born while shepherds kept their sheep outside. “And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people;” Luke 2:8-12 KJV So that dispels the myth.
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Let me lay to rest an old argument I’ve heard for most of my saved life. That old dispute about it was too cold in December for shepherds to keep sheep outside all night. It was not. First of all, sheep are covered in wool. Shepherds would also have been covered in wool outer garments as well as having wool blankets to keep them warm. Also, Jerusalem’s daily low temperatures in December range from 48 to 42 degrees Fahrenheit, rarely falling below 37 degrees. So that dispels the myth. So, was December 25th our Lord’s actual birthday after all? I truly doubt it. When I was a leader in the Boy Scouts, I did in-depth research on holidays for one of our programs. One of the holidays was Christmas. It was a real eye-opener. From the Encyclopedia Britannica site today, you can read how the church in Rome began celebrating Christmas on December twenty-fifth in the year 336. It was during the reign of the emperor Constantine when he made Christianity the effective religion of the empire. It was done most likely to weaken the established pagan religions of the day. This bears out with many of the other places I researched on the date. They couldn’t get the pagans to stop worshiping their false gods, so Rome turned the worship into one of Christ’s birth.
