I’ve been dreaming of a white Christmas for almost half a century. Living here in Texas, I don’t get to hear sleigh bells jingling in the snow. The other night, my girls netflixed Bing Crosby’s White Christmas. I watched it for the first time since I was a teensy thing. All I remembered about the movie was that it began to snow when they sang about their dreams.
Dreaming of a White Christmas
I’ve been singing my dreams for a long time and, well, nothing. No snow. No white Christmas.
The movie is great. I wanted to hug a veteran, dance around the house and forget about all the Christmas dinner and fixings. It seems that back then food wasn’t a main emphasis to those skinny Americans. I don’t remember seeing one Christmas cookie.
Today’s Christmas
Nowadays, Christmas is about
- stuffing ourselves with rich food,
- spending next years wages on things that will be trashed in 6 months,
- and trying to fit family, even the strange and weird ones, into our already busy schedule.
Americans have so outgrown all the old ways characterized by physical work and hardship. Our lives are bent on pleasure and the pursuit of happiness.
Take Black Friday for example. The retailers created a special day for mass frenzy. I chose to leave madness and macing, spraying pepper spray, to the crazies, while I shopped in my pj’s, online. On Amazon, I found a deal on a throwback Atari game consol. A cool present. It will be a Christmas day showdown of Pong, just my brothers and I. I guess we ought to let my little nephew play since it’s his game. Surely I could beat the four year old.
Dreaming of the white square ball bouncing off my white-bar paddle, I waited for delivery confirmation. It didn’t come. I emailed seller via Amazon. No response.
Christmas Frustration
About a week later I received this:
I was infuriated. I spent $65 of my mother’s money buying this cool game console for her to give my nephew for Christmas and instead I received this $10 Charlie Brown tree!! I could’ve pepper sprayed the seller! Amazon’s guarantee made good on the money before I went “postal” in sending anything but steaming e-mails to the seller. If the injustice of it all wasn’t so bad, it’d be hilarious. So now I have a Charlie Brown Christmas tree to show for the meaning of Christmas.
The Real Christmas
I began to question my ability to be happy and merry if everything about Christmas was taken from me and all I had was my relationship with Jesus.
The meaning behind our busy holiday celebrations is lost to us.
- Some focus on giving, which often is a backhanded way of focusing on getting recognition for our gift giving.
- Some of us focus on family, eating and gathering together. But what happens when one can’t make it, or is estranged or deceased. Is the meaning of Christmas nil because family isn’t together?
Could Christmas be celebrated without the feasts and wrappings? Or the gifts and trappings? What if we didn’t even have one lonely Christmas ball on a pitiful branch? No family. Nobody. Could we still have Christmas?
Christmas is about hope. Not just a baby in a barn. It’s about rescue, not just a religious holiday. Christmas is a gift. If we stop the shopping, cooking, planning, decorating and eating long enough to accept the gift of Jesus, we find the peace on earth we’ve searched for.
Can we move beyond a religious exercise, into a spiritual relationship? What if all you had was a puny tree? No gifts? No family or friends? How do you keep your focus on the real meaning of Christmas?
This post is part of the Spiritual Journey’s Gentle Nudges Series. If you enjoyed it you may also like the Living and Working on Mission Blog Series, the Insights into Ministry & Leadership Series or the other Blog Series.
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Hi Rob, just want to thank you for this beautiful thought. Doug and I were just talking today about how satan has infiltrated the Church and has stolen our true identity and with it our effectiveness. The true meaning has been lost in the lives of many christians, entangled in the secular traditions and snares laid by satan himself. I hope to be more Christ-like this coming year and more effective in my witness especially to my students. May God continue to bless you and your ministry. I love you.
Thank you, Debbie. I find it’s a constant struggle to stay focused on Jesus in the life he wants me to live. May we all get better at it in the days to come!