A Christmas Miracle

The collective ‘we’ have recently passed through the annual Holiday Season general known around the world as Christmas. I must say, I have never completely lost my joy of Christmas even though my enthusiasm for the bastardization of the festival has waxed and waned over the years. But over the past decade my joy for the Christmas season has enjoyed a resurgence and this past Christmas I received my very own Christmas miracle.

I was enjoying a meal with a friend and colleague several weeks before Christmas Day and I asked my friend if they were intending to celebrate Christmas and, if so, how. My friend shared that they do not celebrate the season and try not to even acknowledge it. They went on to share how the commercialization of the Season has all but ruined the enjoyment of an annual celebration that once brought much joy into their lives. I changed the subject; but my friend left me with some important material for my own inner work. What is it about Christmas that continues to hold an allure for me?

As I grow older, and the grey hair becomes the more popular color on my head, I find an increased desire to keep life simple. So when it came to answering the question ‘What is it about Christmas that continues to hold an allure for me?,’ I kept it simple. I enjoy the energy that is in the air—an energy of pause, reflection, kindness, and goodwill toward our fellow human being. Yes, yes, I know…there is much sadness in the world and the Christmas Season for many is a time of great sorrow, as it is a reminder to them of what they don’t have, or maybe never did—gifts under the tree on Christmas morning, or even more fundamental, a family to share it with.

So I thought back to the coffee I enjoyed with my friend and colleague and brought a little bit of pragmatism into my inner work. The reality…Christmas is here, and here to stay. Christmas will never go away. You could even take away all the commercialization of the season and it will still be here. Because, underneath all the capitalist society gorging and feasting over of the Holiday Season, you have a period of time throughout the year, albeit brief, where even the most hardened hearts open up just a little…if only a smidgen. And it was this realization that presented my very own Christmas miracle to me this year.

Christmas will always be here. So I can choose to stick my head in the sand and play Ebenezer Scrooge and try and ignore it, or I can embrace it in a way that is meaningful for me. And so…I stepped back and decided that from this day forward, Christmas, as the collective ‘we’ refer to it as, will forever be known to me as the ‘Season of the Heart.’ A time of year when those hearts that are hurting will experience a momentary opening to the light and love that exists within all of us. And for those whose hearts are already opened, may the Christmas Season compel them to extend that love to every man, women, and child they meet.

It truly is the ‘Season of the Heart.’ So open up your hearts and let the light shine in, through you, and extend that light and love back out to all of humanity. Every ray of light and love you extend will be returned to you with the glowing magnificence of the heavens.

In love, gratitude, compassion, and forgiveness…