Essence of Christmas

      WE are in that special season of the year, a season of joy, of peace and of great tidings. It is a season of carols when we celebrate the birth of Christ the King, th At Christmas, we are expected to spare time to contemplate things eternal. That is, we must remind ourselves that we are strangers here on earth; that our real home is in heaven, and that no matter how long we live, we shall surely die one day. 

      So many people who started the year 2012 with us are not around to finish it. Like us, they commenced the New Year with high hopes and aspirations.

Some may have planned to marry this year, buy a new car or move into a new apartment. But alas, all those are now lost. Thus, we should count ourselves lucky to be alive to see Christmas. This should, therefore, be a period of gratitude to God for sparing our lives and counting us among the living. It should equally be an opportunity for us to mend our ways before God so that we would not be found wanting redeemer of mankind. Jesus is the reason for the season. The spirit behind Christmas is that of giving and sharing. In the Bible, we learn of how the wise men, on learning about the newborn child, came calling with gifts of gold, incense and myrrh. We should also be like these who understood the virtue in giving. It is through giving that we receive. Sometimes, the gains may not be natural but spiritual.

     

    The three wise men, on learning about the born child, came calling with gifts of gold, incense and myrrh Christmas heart is a giving heart, a wide open heart that thinks of others first. The birth of the baby Jesus stands as the most significant event in all history, because it has meant the pouring into a sick world of the healing medicine of love which has transformed all manner of hearts for almost two thousand years… Underneath all the bulging bundles is this beating Christmas heart. – George Matthew Adams t is December, the month of Christmas. Carols coming from every store, television set & radio, from church choir & ordinary people caught-up in the spirit of the season. Some of the carols are secular, some sacred with their various deep meanings.