Are The Ghosts of Christmas Past Visiting you?

I awoke fairly early this morning and in an effort to stir up the good feelings of the holidays, I began to dig up memories of Christmas’ in the past.  I was brought back to the time, as a child, when all I wanted for Christmas was a particular Matchbox police cruiser.  (This was before Hot Wheels and other plastic renditions.  These cars were made of metal and separately packaged in small boxes.)  I recalled when my mother put that small red wrapped box under the tree with my name on it.  Now, you have to understand that this was about a week before Christmas, so that I had an entire week to handle the package and dream about it’s contents.  (which turned out not to be the police car but a neat red fire engine!) Then there were the times when my older brother and I would spend hours making up imaginary stories with my Matchbox cars under the family Christmas trees through the years.  I then moved through time to that first Christmas Eve when my senior high girlfriend (later to be my wife) and I sat hand in hand on my folks couch and opened up our gifts to each other, and then progressed to the warm feelings of the many memories of the Christmas mornings with our four children as they grew up.

While slowly traveling through the past thirty years, I began to realize that although all of these remembrances brought me a multitude of pleasant thoughts, they did give me the serenity that I had desired the exercise to produce.  Why wasn’t this jaunt through memory lane producing the comfort that I was seeking?  Well, it slowly began to dawn on me that Christmas to many of us is centered around the past.  That is why Christmas is a very rough season for some people.  Life goes on and situations change. Children grow up, spouses die, friends move and none of us are the same people we used to be.  I mentioned a few days ago how we can use the positive events of the past to ignite our expectations for the future, and this is still solid advice, but there also comes a time where, as in this case, we need to let go of the past memories and live for the present by developing new traditions that fit your current place in life.

Once again, this Christmas is to be totally different than all of ours in the past, since none of our children will be with us for Christmas Eve or Christmas day.  I can let that bother me or choose to thank God that I have my wife with me, and that we can spend some precious time together, celebrating “The Message” (see yesterday’s posting) in a brand new way.  That serenity comes to me in knowing that we have raised four wonderful, happy children who, in various stages of their young adult lives, are pursuing their dreams.  Two in Oklahoma attending Bible School (actually our youngest graduated last year…), one in North Carolina with her terrific husband and our oldest in central California with his lovely wife and two daughters.  And think of this… we get to extend the holidays  as we will celebrate another family gathering with my older son and his family next week.  So, yeah… it’s different, but you know what?  It’s going to be even better, because we are expecting this to be the best Christmas yet!

So, my Christmas prayer for each of you, is that you can enjoy your particular traditions of Christmas (or be able to start new traditions) with a renewed enthusiasm filled with peace and joy.  Remember that the multitude of the heavenly armies that appeared to the shepherds (once again see yesterday’s post and Luke 2:13-14) came singing a proclamation of peace that man had never known before.  Don’t allow the ghosts of Christmas past steal the peace and joy that this Christmas holds for you and your loved one. 

And after you turn off the lights tonight, after all the preparations for tomorrow are complete, peek out the window and imagine for a moment that night long ago, when the angels were guarding their flocks in the deep of night, when suddenly the glory of the Lord lit up the sky.  Let that Light shine in and through you this year.  Have a blessed Christmas!  Stay tuned and keep asking yourself… “What am I expecting today?”

- Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!