I wrote this out on Christmas day.
My dad wanted us to share something, a scripture passage or something special. Some of these thoughts had been on my mind, so I wrote it out.
With what my family is going through right now with my mom
I thought it was fitting to post it now.
It can be hard to want to get into the so called "Christmas Spirit." I know as a kid sometimes I'd "feel it"-whatever "it" was. It was this magical feeling, a feeling of mystery and excitement. A joy and happiness. The "feeling" of Christmas.
As I grow older I wouldn't feel "it" as much if at all. Somewhere I got it in my head that I had to "feel it." It HAD to feel like Christmas.
I know this year I wasn't all "gung ho" about jumping into Christmas. My mom wanted to get a tree right after Thanksgiving. I wasn't ready. For some reason my lack of readiness was attached to a huge loss I experienced at the beginning of the year. A beautiful girl that I was "Thramu" (teacher) to left us permanently. A tragic set of circumstances sent her to an early death.
As I've grown up the plasticness of consumerism-Santa Claus and even the idealism of Christmas movies has shown thin. Not enough of a reason to "feel" the Christmas spirit.
Even last night, Christmas Eve, I heard about some tragedys and it practically took my breath away.
What God meant by Christmas- His plan wasn't the tinsely star on a tree, the big man with a fake wooly beard but somehing so very much deeper. Christmas is about HOPE. The HOPE that there is more to life than tragedy...than the devastation of loosing people you love.
It's deeper than the lights and the music. It is a beating heart! It is about the life giving, breath giving person that was born on Christmas morning.
He was born into poverty. He was born with a death warrant on his head. He was a refugee like my student from Thailand.
Mary and Joseph sought peace. They ran for their lives.
They did realize there was something special about this Jesus. The separate visitations from the angel to Joseph than to Mary did not keep them from running for their lives. But I bet it gave them HOPE.
they knew that beyond themselves, beyond the overwhelming reality that was right in front of their eyes, the poverty, the insecurity they had to deal with they had HOPE. I don't think they fully fathomed the truly INFINITE HOPE they held in their arms.
The truest purest meaning of Christmas is the black and white reality that God is with us. He gave Jesus to us. He is our gift. He is our HOPE. No matter what the past has been, what we are dealing with today or what tomorrow brings the fact of the matter is through Jesus Emmanuel-GOD truly and really is with us, and because of that I have the gift of HOPE.
