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Why Bother with Christmas?

Running up the credit balance, standing in line, rushing to get the cards out, overeating just a little, putting the decorations up before its time to take them down – for many, that’s what Christmas is all about.  For others, the holiday season is painful, a time of mourning lost loved ones and old memories.

So, why bother with Christmas?

Of course it goes beyond tinsel and tree lights, wrapping paper and sugar cookies.  It even goes beyond family togetherness and holiday cheer.  Christmas is a time to reflect on something so bright with wonder that only the blindest of eyes can miss its brilliance and beauty.  And it is this light – this magnificent, history-splitting display -- that makes Christmas worth celebrating.

The event?  

Bringing Christmas to Life

Are the holidays alive to you?  Or is the Christmas spirit reserved for fictitious characters in warm-hearted movies?  We all know what Christmas is supposed to feel like, complete with sugary snacks and deep feelings of family togetherness.

But the realists among us only feel our spirits lifted by a ballooning credit card bill, a spouse that remembers a long lost relative who “needs” a gift (there goes another $45), and an ever expanding Christmas card list.  We feel pressure to buy, pressure to impress in-laws, pressure to do something Christmasy with the kids, and even pressure to create happy memories.

Not that all of that is bad.  Some of us need a little push to keep us from scrooging our way through the end of the year.  But is there a secret to really “feeling” Christmas, instead of just singing about it?

Living a Heavenly Life?

“O believe the record true; God to you His Son hath given!  Ye may now be happy too, Find on earth the life of heaven.”

The great hymn-writer Charles Wesley penned these words ages ago, and I fear that over those ages, we’ve lowered our expectations of what life can be like.  Wesley wasn’t content with just getting along in life.  He wasn’t waiting until the glories of heaven delivered him from the surly bonds of earthen sadness.  He was as excited as ever to face each day, knowing that because of Christ, he didn’t need to wait for heaven to experience it.

Today, we still believe heaven will be an exciting place, but this world?  We just have to take what we can get, right?