Sadly, this season of the year is filled with commercials to buy and buy ad infinitum. No matter how many times we're reminded about Christ's birth, the real excitement for most folks is presents for the kids and parties for the grown-ups.
On a CBC program called Neon Nights, I heard a song by Christina called Things Fall Apart. It's about a woman who remembers how special things were when she was young during Christmas but now they've become meaningless.
I feel the same way. Most of the lovely things I received for Christmas are long gone. They fell apart but they never left my heart. In fact, I only have a few of those gifts left.
The most influential of them all is a King James version of The New Testament. I boarded with a single mother and her two children in 1970 and this Christian woman gave that to me. Its large black letters were supposedly easy to read but I lacked a good magnifying glass. I had to hold together two weak ones in order to read the book.
I'm grateful to that Christian woman since nobody mentored me when I gave my life to Christ a year previously. My How I Was Razed memoir picks up the story of my journey to truth when I joined a cultic church in 1971. I thank the Lord daily for leading me out of it and into the freedom he promised all believers.
When God called you, he didn't mess around, did he, Bruce! You put 2 magnifying glasses together to make the print large enough to read? Lord, that I could desire your word to that degree!
ReplyDeleteChristmas is not always the fun celebration for everyone that the media (and people) say it is. For some it is a painful time, full of memories. A couple of years ago I wrote a short Christmas story called 'The Best Blue Christmas' in which the main character experiences Christmas blues each time the holiday rolls around.
ReplyDeleteI agree Bruce, Christmas can be a difficult time of year, but the focus of Christmas, the real reason never outdates. May you continue to experience that inner joy and freedom.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Bruce, for sharing this down-to-earth story of how you feel about Christmas and gifts. I find it sad that no one was there to mentor you when you when you gave your life to Christ. I also listened to the haunting, alternative Christmas song you mentioned. I pray, Bruce, that God will guide you to friends who are closer in proximity to you or guide you to a physical place where you will find friends who will be closer to you in an emotional and spiritual way.
ReplyDeleteI do not have the solutions for you, but I believe God does, so I am putting you on my prayer list. One Scripture verse that comes to mind is this: "Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands." (Isaiah 49:15-16a) God engraving us on the palms of his hands sounds more permanent than what the world has to offer us. Jesus came down to earth to be "God with us!" May we celebrate the gift of his presence with more emphasis than the material gifts we share at this time of year. May you be blessed in a special way this Christmas, Bruce.