There are many reasons to celebrate in life. As a matter, life without celebration would really be unbearable, wouldn’t it?  We people invent all kinds of reasons to celebrate because otherwise insanity would truly settle in. We celebrate the big things in life, the birthdays, the weddings, the graduations, the 4th of July and major national holidays as well as the different religious holidays.

However, that wasn’t enough at all so we’ve started to celebrate what the world knows as Hallmark Holidays. We couldn’t stop there either and today there are a plethora of reasons to celebrate from Boss’ Day to Eat a Red Apple Day observed on the 1st day of December.

I for sure hope you didn’t miss the Bathtub Party Day this year on December 5th. Did you know that today, December 15th is the Bill of Rights Day as well as the National Lemon Cupcake Day? And this just in these United States of America. This day is celebrated around the world in 8 countries for different reasons such as Remembrance Day of Journalists Killed in the Line of Duty (Russia) or Kingdom Day (Netherlands) and it used to be celebrated in the Roman Empire as Consualia, a celebration dedicated to Consus, a patron deity of the harvest and the stored grain.

Today, we will light up a pink candle which symbolizes JOY, the JOY that was brought to human kind in the birth of it’s true KING, the LORD JESUS CHRIST. There are many reasons to celebrate in life for life is hard in this fallen world and without celebration, without rejoicing and laughter

our hearts would grow darker and darker. In the Bible we are advised to always rejoice, even when there is no apparent reason for joy makes hardship more bearable and time move faster until the clouds of the day burn away and let the sun shine through. This is not a secret; we all know that time passes so much faster when you are having fun then when you are caught in despair.

That day, in Bethlehem, in the city of David and on his throne, a KING was born, a KING whose rule will never end, a KING over whom death had no power, a KING who did not care about gold and riches but only about the hearts of His kingdom. A KING who does not call His subjects servants but Brothers and Sisters. A KING who before demanding anything actually GAVE...HE GAVE HIS LIFE to you and to me and to an entire world who deserved not GRACE but the DEATH SENTENCE.

Imagine yourself today on death row. Your execution imminent. You’ve written your letter of appeal to the Governor and to the President and nothing. You’ve begged for mercy and you’ve not been hurt. You are guilty, you know you are, and you wish you could master time to go back and make things right for the moment of weakness, of insanity that landed you in this cell, destined for the worst destiny a human could boast...the electric chair.

They’ve come and they’ve taken you, along hallways with poor lighting, in somber step, knowing these were the last steps you will ever take. You wonder what will be on the other side of the darkness, of the pain of death. The chill of the water from the sponge affixed on your head under the electrode who will deliver your sentence makes you shiver and you pray. You pray that once the pain will cease and your last breath will go out of your body, in the darkness you will find grace, forgiveness and a better faith than this. You wait as seconds painfully pass, not knowing when the switch will flip. But, what is this? All of a sudden your hands are free, your hood removed, then... the words, “By Presidential Pardon your life is spared”. What do you feel? JOY? :) and so you should for CHRIST has done just that for you and me...