The start of December rekindles holiday memories for many of us. Your family may have had Christmas traditions that centered on the Luke 2 story and Christmas Eve church services, that involved relatives and parties, and that included all the commercial delights of the season. As a kid, I couldn’t wait for the arrival of the Sears Wish Book, a treasure met by joy and earnest searching so I could give my parents subtle hints for gifts they might leave under the tree for me.

I know Christmas brings different memories for everyone. It may stir up melancholy thoughts, and recollections of broken families or loss of loved ones. It can leave an aching loneliness.

This Christmas, I invite you to explore with me the lives of each of the ordinary people we see around our nativity sets, huddled near the manger and making their appearances in the drama of God-made-flesh. Their lives, like our own, point to the one character whose birth changed the world: Jesus Christ, the light that illuminated their lives and, if we believe, illuminates our own, too.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Daniel M. Darling

Daniel Darling is an author, pastor, speaker, and podcast host. He is also a regular contributor to several evangelical publications. All of this month’s Anchor writing comes from his book, The Characters of Christmas. Dan, his wife Angela, and their four children recently moved to the Dallas/Fort Worth area where they are beginning a new chapter of their lives as Texans. Dan has enjoyed serving in churches in Illinois and Tennessee and is looking forward to what the Lord has in store for him next.