Merry Christmas everyone! I wanted to personally wish each and every one of you the very best, as we celebrate a day that has come to mean a lot more to me in recent years. For years, Christmas was always a time to exchange lavish gifts and brag about what I got to others. But over the past few years, I have been dwelling far more on the true meaning of Christmas, one that focuses on the “Christ” in “Christmas”.
While I’ve read the actual birth of Jesus was definitely not on December 25th, it’s the meaning behind His birth that actually means something to me for this holiday now. Because it’s Jesus who demonstrated quite clearly to me what unconditional love was throughout his life, something that I ultimately think is the real spirit behind Christmas.
Sadly, I feel that meaning has gotten lost in translation over the past century with all the commercialization that Christmas seems to bring nowadays. But for someone like me who doesn’t have much to offer in the line of money and gifts anymore, without any type of employment or regular income coming in, I’ve been experiencing the last few December 25th’s in very different ways from my lavish-living days of old. Now, I look for other ways to express Christ’s unconditional love on December 25th. Sometimes that’s simply in me reaching out to someone I normally wouldn’t and letting them know they’re loved.
There are plenty of people out there, and probably in your very life, who have no one to spend this day with, who aren’t going to even have a special meal or receive a single gift today. Speaking from personal experience, having gone through a Christmas like that in years past, sometimes the very best gift one can receive is simply having someone reach out through a phone call or stopping by in person, solely to remind you you’re loved.
So, remember that today as you go through all the festivities. Try to make a difference in one person’s life that you normally wouldn’t, by letting them know they’re loved. In doing so, you might just be living out the true meaning behind the “Christ” in Christmas.
Have a blessed, Merry Christmas everyone!
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson
