Christmas Moving Forward

The year is about to go. Soon the trees that we have put up and the lights we’ve adorned our houses with will have to be taken down. The mistletoes, the wreaths, and lanterns will all have to go to their hiding places once again. It will not be until another year for them to be restored.

The jovial feeling of the season will take a step back and life goes back to its conventional mode. It’s somewhat forlorn that once in a year this poem comes along:

It's Christmas Time Again
(by Bob Lazzar-Atwood)

Put your problems on probation
Run your troubles off the track,
Throw your worries out the window
Get the monkeys off your back.
Silence all your inner critics
With your conscience make amends,
And allow yourself some happiness
It's Christmas time again!

Call a truce with those who bother you
Let all the fighting cease,
Give your differences a breather
And declare a time of peace,
Don't let angry feelings taint
The precious time you have to spend,
And allow yourself some happiness
It's Christmas time again!

Like some cool refreshing water
Or a gentle summer breeze,
Like a fresh bouquet of flowers
Or the smell of autumn leaves,
It's a banquet for the spirit
Filled with family, food and friends,
So allow yourself some happiness
It's Christmas time again!

The Christmas season seemed to have become an excuse for not being deleterious. It has become a habit to think that once a year we become extra kind, helpful, & generous, and that we can only “allow” ourselves “some happiness” during Christmas time. What makes Christmas a time to place our misbehaviors on hold? What sets it apart from any other occasion throughout the year? What’s Christmas all about?

Over 2000 years ago, a child was born of Mary and Joseph. This child and event was seen & prophesied by a prophet named Isaiah long before it happened. It was declared by an angel (Gabriel) that this child will be called Jesus, and that he will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. His birth was a manifestation of God’s love: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

Isaiah declared: “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: …
“… He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed” (Isa. 53:4–5).

This is the lifeblood of Christmas. We all know the story, but sometimes the purpose of which becomes trifling.

The “reason for the season”, as the saying goes, is Christ. It is the time of year when Christians celebrate his birth. He is the personification of all uprightness & the source of goodness & love in the world. He has taught: “Love one another, as I have loved you…” (John 13: 34-35). “Whoever strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other to him, as well.” When the woman taken in adultery was set before Jesus and the Pharisees ought to have her stoned, he reminded: “Whoever among you is guiltless may be the first to throw a stone at her” (John 8:7). It was He who also taught in parables.

Who has not become acquainted with Parables such as the “Good Samaritan”& the “Prodigal Son”? When it was time for him to be taken in by Roman soldiers, preparatory to his crucifixion, he restored a soldier’s ear which was severed by one of his followers, in his defense. Such act of mercy was culminated on the cross when he said: “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). His ministry and life were replete with acts of kindness & forgiveness: “If your brother sins, rebuke him. If he repents, forgive him. Even if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times returns to you saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him”.

In the great Plan of Happiness, we must be saved from our sins. The perfect and sinless offering for sin was none other than Christ. He is the Son of God and the only Begotten of the Father, in the flesh. There was none other who could have possibly taken our sins upon him and suffered the way Jesus did. There had to be an atonement made.

Amulek, a prophet of the new world has spoken about this: “And now, behold, I will testify unto you of myself that these things are true. Behold, I say unto you, that I do know that Christ shall come among the children of men, to take upon him the transgressions of his people, and that he shall atone for the sins of the world; for the Lord God hath spoken it.

“For it is expedient that an atonement should be made; for according to the great plan of the Eternal God there must be an atonement made, or else all mankind must unavoidably perish; yea, all are hardened; yea, all are fallen and are lost, and must perish except it be through the atonement which it is expedient should be made” (Book of Mormon, Alma 34: 8-9).

Christmas should remind us of the mission and role of Jesus Christ in our lives. It is set apart from all other events & celebrations because it is by him and through him that we are saved and can receive eternal life.

“And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among people by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Christ has underscored the significance of his role when he said: “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).

For us who believe and follow Christ, Christmas should just be another ordinary day in being the kind of people we ought to be. When he visited the Americas, Christ taught that we ought to be like him: “Therefore, what manner of men [& women] ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I am” (Book of Mormon, 3 Nephi 27:27).

What then is the substance of being nice, forgiving, more loving, more kind, & more generous during Christmas season when these attributes should become natural to us and should be demonstrated at all times, in whatever season of the year. The adorning of the Christmas tree, and the setting up of lights and other Christmas decors had become symbolic of our behaviors in life, in that we always have to take them down after the holiday. We tend to go back being unforgiving, unkind, impatient, irritable, selfish, hateful, & miserable. The good things which adorned us throughout the Christmas season were taken down together with the material ornamentations we’ve set up for the celebration.

Howard Hunter once said: “When we take Christ into our lives as a moving, dynamic, vitalizing force, the real Christmas comes”. When we accept Christ and His teachings, and when we repent of our sins, we are baptized into His fold. That is the time when we start adorning ourselves with His (Christlike) attributes. We become living trees with ornaments such as humility, charity & love, obedience & diligence, faith and hope. These become a part of us and do not need to be taken down or suspended for another year. We grow into living examples of the Savior.

As we welcome the New Year, and as we take down those material and physical ornaments along the way, may we be reminded to keep the lessons of Christmas & retain the real Christmas within our souls.

I have thought about changing some phrases in the poem to make it sound more lasting.

It’s Christmas

Put your problems on probation
Run your troubles off the track,
Throw your worries out the window
Get the monkeys off your back.
Silence all your inner critics
With your conscience make amends,
And allow yourself the same happiness
Which Christmas always brings.

Work to reunite with those who bother you
Let all the fighting cease,
Understand all of your differences
And declare a time of peace,
Don't ever let angry feelings taint
The precious time you spend,
And allow yourself the same happiness
Which Christmas always brings.

Like some cool refreshing water
Or a gentle summer breeze,
Like a fresh bouquet of flowers
Or the smell of autumn leaves,
It's a banquet for the spirit
Filled with family, food and friends,
And allow yourself the same happiness
Which Christmas always brings.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Image taken from Reflections of Christ by Mark Mabry. Visit the site www.reflectionsofchrist.org