Season's Gift (concluded)

(photo by Lillian Craze)
By Frank Varano

Christmas is just one day set aside to rejoice in the coming of Jesus Christ as intended by those reflections on the church wall. But why should it be only one day? What about the other 364? We do well to learn from the eight year old's joyous face, experiencing everything for the first time.

Make no mistake--a child's reaction in the snow would be the same by the poolside if Christmas were August 5th. This is the natural state of every human ever born--excitement, wonder and irrepressible joy. The Real World as it was meant to be and can be. This is what Jesus referred to when he beckoned His disciples to have the faith of a child (Matthew 18:5). "The Good Old Days" is really more a reference about a time in my life when I was more easily contented than it was about a period in history when the world was a better place.

Like seeing the first snowfall, Christmas also teaches me that it is possible to live each day as if it were a new, separate and distinct day unlike any other in history. We were intended to! It doesn't matter if yesterday's events impact our actions today. To those of us who see it, this newness is evident not just daily; it is reflected on an annual basis with the change of the seasons. God has established a regualr pattern in our lives, each part being different from the others, but the sequence never changes. It establishes the order and continuity we need, but the sense of newness we crave. This is each season's gift to us, and its power is most strongly felt at Christmas.

The earth's cycle of spring, summer, fall and winter closely mimics the human cycle of birth, growth, maturity and death. The average human only has the chance to live through about seventy of thses annual cycles. Few ever notice the them. Even fewer understand its intent. Seen in this light, how wonderful it would be if on our birthdays, people wished us a Merry Christmas!

It is far too easy to get bogged down with the details of the Christmas card mailing list and what color lights hang on the porch. Keep in mind that "this is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad!" (Psalm 118:24) God created the past, and He has a future mapped out for us. But today, ah, today is like you and me: unique and unrepeateable. It is the one point in time where history and eternity embrace. Today is God's gift to us. That's why it's called the present.


Dedicated to the memory of Dad.