It does not take long for those that know me, to realize that I don't wear dresses. There's a reason for it. Well, I don't care much for them. I do own a few and may actually find myself in one at the peak of summer. But overall, I much more comfortable in pants.

So I think its kind of odd that every year as the Christmas season approaches and the stores begin their marketing ploys to lure consumers stock out on all the holiday trappings, I find myself suddenly interested in dresses. Not just any dress, but the velvet and gowns and taffeta and regal colors so representative of the season. I call them the "pretty dresses". The section that I normally bypass in the store the rest of the season, now captures my interest and my imagination.

For what I've come to realize is that it is not the pretty dress per se that I am interested in. No, it's what the dress represents. I imagine that purchaser and wearers of these dresses are the recipients of invitations to fun-filled and fancy galas with friends or family or even that special someone. They are fanciful times that so encapsulate the spirit and energy of the season and the pretty dress is but the hallmark of this time. How great it would be to put a pretty dress and join the festivities. I smile for a moment as I do every year. Then I realize that I have no need for a pretty dress, not this season. Maybe next year.

It also does occur to me that we all have our "pretty dresses", those symbols of a life or activities that our imagination will lead us to mistake for actual and lasting fulfillment. It's the things that leave a hole where we feel there ought to be some kind of material; those things that might make us feel better about life. But will it? The moments are fleeting, the joy temporary. Solomon, the writer of Ecclesiastes summed up wisely...its all vanity, nothing, nada. Only a heart at rest with eternal comfort of peace with God brought to us through the priceless gift of divine pardon can know true satisfaction.

So my wish is that as the holiday season approaches and I see the appealing presentations of pretty dresses, that I recall the more significant and weightier display of an infant who would forever secure the longings of wanting hearts with eternal peace and purpose. And that I consider his "pretty dresses" of human likeness, swadling clothes, blood stained strips and graves clothes that he wore to exchange my guilt for his gift of eternal life. And I ponder His continual advocacy on my behalf and the day of His triumphant appearance. It can only prompt me to say, the season is here!

"For He [God] rescued us from the dominion of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His dear son [Jesus], in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

He [Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, for by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities-all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and In Him all things hold together" (Col 1:13-17)