Deuteronomy 4:37 And because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought thee out in his sight with his mighty power out of Egypt;

This is the first direct scripture indicating that God loves man. Every other love expression before this was man for wife or father for son. If we are to discover any real meaning to the Greek word Agape that we use to express God’s perfect love, then the search begins here. The word in Hebrew is ‘ahab and has no distinction as to how God’s love is any different than that expressed by man, meaning affection.

What distinguishes God’s love towards man is in what He does for man. God saw to it that the seed of them that He loved would be saved from slavery. I think it is important to realize that His love could have been demonstrated without the inclusion of two vital words to my understanding, sight and seed.

Since Jesus spoke in Aramaic and the New Testament was translated into and from the Greek, we have no real sense of what Jesus meant by love other than His actions. This is very much like His Father in that sense. Chaldean and Aramaic are both influencers of Hebrew and very similar in structure. Hebrew and Chaldean would have a clearer understanding of His Aramaic speech.

In the BLB.org I find the Gesenius’ Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon has a meaningful word that satisfies my understanding of Agape love. It satisfies my understanding because of what God has done in my life thru His Son Jesus Christ. That meaning is “to germinate”.

If the seed, the Word of God, the Gospel, is planted in my heart, it must be germinated to take root. If there is no root there is no growth, and no production of fruit with seeds of their own. Without germination no life is produced.

I will not be quoting scripture today. Today will be about traditions and memories.

I will be joining my family at my daughter’s house later today to celebrate what has become our family tradition. We have a combined family Christmas Eve where we share our gifts to one another. Then tomorrow each of my children will break up into their respective families and celebrate Christmas morning and the day as they transition into traditions apart from my influence.

For many years my father and mother held a tradition of the eve of anticipation. Nothing was opened until Christmas morning. The first remembrance of opening presents on Christmas Eve happened in my tender pre-teen years. I was old enough to stay up later and celebrate some of the older experiences, but not all of them. I was sorely disappointed when I was told to go to bed earlier than I desired. I had expected to stay up later.

Begrudgingly and with many a moan I climbed the stairs to the room I shared with my older brother. When we turned on the lights we each found snow skis on our beds. This was our first Christmas Eve presents. Sorrow turned to joy and disappointment to gladness.

I was married for eight years before we had children so the issue of Christmas traditions did not come into play until the children were old enough to recognize the Christmas season. We had different backgrounds and experiences and it took some time before our blend of traditions took shape. Eventually our Christmas Eve tradition developed and Christmas day became more about sharing with friends and allowing the children to renew their excitement with our friend’s children.

Children get older and some traditions change because we evolve and what is important changes. Then when they marry and they find themselves blending into a new family of their own, they decide what and how to celebrate this season. This is as it should be and I am thankful for that and this day that includes me and what remains of my Eve Exchange.