The Real Joy of Christmas: Part I

The Christmas season has become the most commercial time of the year, and each year it seems to start earlier than the year before.  Now, instead of the day after Thanksgiving, there is evidence of Christmas in retail stores before Halloween.

Every year we rack our brains

Trying to find the ultimate things.

When if we just sat still awhile,

We would save quite a mile

Of running hither and thither and yonder.

Running frantically, full of wonder.

What could it be that I could get

To give ultimate pleasure without much debt?

And all the while we wonder

If we will receive what we most want

What would it be like if we kept the Christmas sprit throughout the year?  – gifting our family and friends and the folks we don’t know that some of us only think about in December – we call them the poor  . . . the homeless.

What if we just gave from our hearts all through the year?  Would we be more reasonable and prudent with our resources?  Is there any other time of the year that folks typically go way overboard and beyond the bounds of their budgets?

Wouldn’t it be great to remember those who have less – or little – throughout the year?  I’ll bet you won’t believe this – but I tell you it’s the truth: you have never seen real gratitude until you have given a hungry person some food.

And you know what I’ve found?  When I really feel down, one thing that can pick me up is doing something for someone else.  It’s a whole lot better than searching for that perfect present – that car – that fur coat – that humongous chunk of compressed carbon (you may want to call it a diamond) – that Wii that's now $50 off and still too pricey -- that "free" $500 phone that enslaves you by means of a two-year contract -- and giving it to someone who may value the thing more than he or she values you.  (Take it from someone who was not valued by one who vowed to do so 'til death they parted!)  Don’t you think you’re worth more than a car?  A phone?  A fur?   A Wii?  Or a chunk of compressed carbon?