What Christmas means to... Valerio

Huw Williams | 22:05, Tuesday, 20 December 2011

We loved what he came up with! – and (with his permission) I thought you might like to read it too.

Here’s what he said:-

Good morning to everybody. Well, it's a pleasure for me to say a few words to try to express what Christmas means, but in particular what Christmas is meant to celebrate, for me and in my life.

Since I was a kid, I used to like this feast, for various reasons: the lights in the city, the songs playing in the streets, the Christmas tree in my house, many big meals..but the most important was: Santa Claus!!

Yes, the most important thing I was waiting for every Christmas was Santa Claus, and the presents.

With all those things I remember there has always been another character, who had only a small part of the story: his name was Jesus. I remember that every year, in between the tree, the songs and the presents, sometimes someone used to say "Jesus, Mary, the donkey, the comet, the Magi.." but I never really understood what this meant.

But when, two years ago, I decided to accept Jesus in my life, after I met Him in a serious, personal way, knowing Him through the Bible, and everything changed. And Christmas, now, is only a small part of this story.

Now let me just read a verse from the Bible: in John 15:13, Jesus said to His disciples:

"Greater love has no-one than this: to lay down one’s life for one's friends."

This verse is very significant to me, because I now know that Jesus is really a friend, the best friend you can ever meet. And here’s the link with Christmas! You see, Christmas is a special time. And when we love some friend of ours, we care for him during all the year, not only at his birthday or in a special appointment. But sometimes it happens that we just still don’t know how special a friend could be to us, and we discover it only in a special occasion, like Christmas!

My wish for you all, and for myself one more time, is that this year we could see that Jesus is not just one special appointment in a whole year, nor a religion. He is just a true friend, who cares for us everyday, not only at Christmas, and that’s the why it is worth experiencing the wonders of knowing Him, and accepting Him as a Saviour in our life. Have a brilliant, special Christmas! God bless you.

- Valerio