Happy Holy Days!

As it draws nearer, I’m trying to be very intentional about focusing upon the real meaning of Christmas. All of the attendant “symptoms”—shopping, giving and receiving, gathering with family and friends—can either contribute or detract from the holy day. Christmas, for me, symbolizes the very real connection between the Creator and its creation. For sentient creatures such as ourselves this raises the very real possibility of interaction with the One who made us, of actually entering into some sort of communion that gives purpose and meaning to our lives. Exclusivity erodes the beauty of this phenomenon because it fails to acknowledge the multitude of ways by which the Creator communicates to all hearts and minds that are receptive. The Christ child’s universality is what Christmas is really all about, and when that realization becomes authentic, all the walls of separation—anger, hate, envy, selfishness, deceit—crumble beneath the knowledge that all humankind is loved equally by its Creator. So let us beware of the claim that Christmas is only for Christians! When the awareness of our connection to the Eternal gives birth to the spirit of Christ within us we shall be illumined by the joyous realization that we are truly nothing more—and nothing less—than children of God!