This early morning as I sit here in the quiet of my home thinking about today’s celebration of Christmas I am reminded that it’s not about the beautifully decorated tree, the overfilled stockings, the gifts that await my children or the food we will consume today, it is about a tiny baby that arrived “One Solitary Life” that changed it all for you and me, the birth of Jesus. Today my prayer is that you will know him as your personal savior and celebrate this “One Solitary Life” a baby that arrived to bring us hope, peace. comfort, forgiveness, love, guidance and so much more.
He was born in an obscure village,
The child of a peasant woman.
He grew up in still another village,
Where he worked in a carpenter shop
Until he was thirty.
Then for three years
He was an itinerant preacher.
He never wrote a book.
He never held an office.
He never had a family or owned a house.
He didn’t go to college.
He never visited a big city.
He never traveled two hundred miles
From the place where he was born.
He did none of the things
One usually associates with greatness.
He had no credentials but himself.
He was only thirty-three
When the tide of public opinion turned against him.
His friends ran away.
He was turned over to his enemies.
And went through the mockery of a trial.
He was nailed to a cross
Between two thieves.
While he was dying,
His executioners gambled for his clothing,
The only property he had on Earth.
When he was dead,
He was laid in a borrowed grave
Through the pity of a friend.
Twenty centuries have come and gone,
And today he is the central figure
Of the human race,
And the leader of mankind’s progress.
All the armies that ever marched,
All the navies that ever sailed,
All the parliament that ever sat,
All the kings that ever reigned,
Put together have not affected
The life of man on Earth
As much as that
ne 
olitary 
ife.
~~Dr James Allen Francis, © 1926~~