The Spirit of Christmas

Christmas sort of 'snuck up' on us this year. It was Halloween, and Connor's birthday, then Thanksgiving....and now it's Christmas....much too soon! I think other people must feel the same sense of surprise and urgency because I've heard people say such things as, "I just can't seem to get into the Christmas spirit" or "I don't have the Christmas spirit yet." This seems very curious to me....and I've been pondering this for a couple of weeks now...what exactly is the 'spirit of Christmas'?

Last Saturday, I think I figured it out. And it has nothing to do with Christmas lights (that some people start putting up before Thanksgiving), or trees (that are supposedly 'pre-lit' but have several strands that won't burn), or decorations (that take up more space in our storage units than anything else). It has nothing to do with going to special Christmas programs, or having Christmas parties, or singing Christmas carols. It doesn't even have anything to do with gifts and presents, although I have always believed that Christmas is about giving...giving not only things but also time and ourselves...giving to family and friends as a way to show love as well as giving to any number or assortment of charities, agencies, or families who need a little extra help this time of year. No, I'm pretty sure the 'spirit of Christmas' doesn't have anything to do with any of these things.

What it has to do with is forgiveness.

Saturday, with it's varying degrees of success and disappointments, had a little lesson tucked away inside for me. On two separate occasions Saturday, God placed in our path people from the past...a past that we don't like to visit very often. I thought, "How strange that we would come across these people...How strange that God has brought the past to our attention twice in one day." That's when it struck me....the past is sometimes filled with regret and grief and hard feelings. Had we met up with either one of these people at any other time, it may not have been the right time. But over the course of time, God has allowed healing on both sides, and that can only come from....forgiveness. In both of these 'chance' happenings, hugs were exchanged! True, honest-to-goodness warm hugs! And when did these 'chance' happenings occur? Right in the middle of the Christmas season!

What does forgiveness have to do with Christmas? It has everything to do with Christmas! I think perhaps it is the spirit of Christmas! Why did God send his only beloved Son on that very first Christmas night? To forgive mankind! To forgive me! And you! Every child in a Sunday School class learns this verse: For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have eternal life! (John 3:16) That's forgiveness! Forgiveness for being the rotten, sinful beings that we are so that we may live forever in His Heaven! Now that is a Christmas gift!

Forgiveness = the spirit of Christmas. I've been rolling this new concept around in my head for a few days now. And you know what else I've decided? That forgiveness is also the key to carrying the 'spirit of Christmas' past December 25, past January 1, into the new year, each and every day. God forgave us...why can't we forgive each other? I'm not sure what it will be, but I am going to find some small token from this Christmas season to keep with me all year long (because this rotten, sinful being is so human) to remind me that I need to have the spirit of Christmas with me all the time, and to forgive others because I have been forgiven.

Merry Christmas, everyone! May you experience forgiveness from both your heavenly Father and your fellow man, and may you know the joy and peace that only Christ can bring.