Friday, December 14, 2007

The Meaning of Christmas?

Michelle tagged me with the challenge to write about "What Christmas Means to You." Her post is below and mine follows.

As a child Christmas was the love of family holding me safe and stories of magic and miracles.

As I got older I grew to realise that there are deeper forms of love and more subtle forms of gift-giving. The love of God giving his son to the world is echoed every day in the love of good people making sacrifices for each other without regrets. The love of friends and family giving time and sharing, understanding and laughter. The love of a life partner giving more than there are words to describe. And the more you embrace that truth of love the more the gifts grow.

Christmas is a reminder that love is more than an emotion
– it is the energy of miracles.

Michelle



The Meaning of Christmas?

I'm not sure that I can tell you anymore. It's not that I don't know. I've lived most of my life fully in the "Reason for the Season," family embraces, children's smiles and expectant giggles, the words of Luke 2: 1-20, the aromatic fumes of Glogg, all thirteen verses of "Good King Wencelas," and singing "Still, Still, Still" in a trio while tears rolled down my cheeks.

I knew it. I lived it. It is still part of me, too. It lives broadly, expansively, lovingly, and gloriously in my memories.

But life moves on and changes, evolves, into things we could never have expected. And the Gift doesn't seem so nicely and tidily wrapped up in shiny paper and bright bows any more, to be trotted out once a year, or even every Sunday and on choir nights.

The Gift has slowly become me - and, believe me, that's not tidy at all! Now, I'm not saying I'm God! Hah! Not at all. But God is in me, part of me. God's not "out there" tied up in the pretty boxes of current religious thought, Walmart's low prices, Wii, and the subprime rate. Nope. The Gift is here in this chubby, old lady with white hair, tennis elbow and sinus problems every morning I wake up. Kind of repulsive when I put it that way, but there it is - the Meaning of Christmas is messy. God made manifest - the Gift amid the messiness.

Go find your Gift this Christmas!

3 comments:

Michelle said...

Hah! I knew you'd take the challenge and make it something unique.

:-D

BTW- for me "Go find your Gift this Christmas!" has great personal significance and comes as a very timely reminder. Thank you xx

Betty Lindholm Navta said...

:o) Thanks, Michelle and you're very, very welcome!

Well, there you are. "Unique" - that's the single descriptive that has followed me around all my life. And for most of that life it's made me angry, hurt and lonely. Not so much anymore, because I finally accepted that we are each "unique." Beautifully and wonderfully unique - and oddly enough, having that in common can draw us together when it's appreciated. I know you see that and appreciate it - and I so appreciate your uniqueness. ((((hugs))))

Merry Christmas!

Michelle said...

:-)

It can make you far more appreciative of others who are equally unique. I look back at my group of high school friends and the truth is the only thing we all had in common was the fact we all had nothing in common with anyone else.