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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Truth was, nothing. Not one thing was that funny. We were just having a grand time. Renae, my fast-forming BFF, and I snickered, giggled and laughed until my face hurt and my sides ached. It was like being a teenager again. Our fun seemed to make many the bus riders take interest.
Over time, I’ve been tempted to reduce this process to a formula. Prayer can easily turn into a ritual without meaning. Prayer is the relationship, not a rule. When we make prayer a dutiful practice, we create a religion about God not enter a relationship with God. The goal is spiritual connectivity with God.
“Lord, I need help. I can’t do this.”
I confessed to Jonathan my need for God’s help to do what’s right and my trouble obeying. We talked about how God can help us, how he wants us to tell him about our struggles and how he gives hope when we feel like there’s no way we can do what we are supposed to do.
Has a child ever put you on the spot with a question? Maybe one you’ve been asking yourself? How can we respond when we don’t know the answer?
Kathy thought the word “homework” would send Jessie out to play, but it became obvious that Jessie had the same desire, to learn about God. She showed Jessie step by step how to do the exercises she was doing. After Kathy journaled a short prayer in the purple book, Jessie wrote hers beside her mother’s. Often Jessie asked questions in which Kathy had no answers. After praying for understanding, Kathy asked her pastor and leaders for guidance. Staying one step ahead, Kathy taught her daughter some tools to maintain, strengthen and develop a deep spiritual and intimate relationship with God.
