Gloryteller

I’m going to begin my Christmas celebration today! Today! Even before Thanksgiving. Even before Advent. Exactly forty days before “the day of Christbirth”. Why? Because I need it!
Every year, on December 26th, I make silent vows that I will keep myself in the heart of Christmas all year. Every day. But the distractions and cares of the world eventually dull my spirit and wear me down, even though I’m getting much better with keeping my silent vows, and my faith is stronger than ever, in many ways.
Yet in many ways, this year seems worse – darker, more fearful, more evil. The Covid 19 pandemic is raging on, even worse lately. The people who think murdering unborn humans is a good thing to do, seem to be winning.
Those who mock Jesus and His followers, seem to be in the majority. They seem to be worshiping with fervent passion all the multitudes of gods that the world provides. Sin and lawlessness abounds. Truth and common sense are increasingly uncommon. It saddens me, and as time passes after the New Year’s celebration, I begin to live more in the world I was born into, the one I can see, than the unseen world I was reborn into. Life in the old world seems to become progressively colder, harsher, darker, more dangerous, lonelier, more broken, more futile, more oppressive and more depressive.

Except . . .

Except that there behind the scene is my faith in The One who defeated all that “old world” trouble. He is never far from me, I only get temporarily distracted. There was a time when I was one of those laughing mockers above, and worshipers of worldly gods. I must remember that. It is an incontrovertible miracle that brought me out of that broken place and into a love of the Central Figure of Christmas.
So, I need myself some Christmas! I need the physical reminders of His spiritual truth. I don’t view physical reminders as a bad thing, for He had a physical presence here, like me. That is one of the facets of His physical incarnation, that He was able to experience the “seen” world with all His human senses, just like we do. He could touch and be touched. He could see and hear, and be seen and heard. He observed all the good and bad, all the pain and suffering, and all the rejoicing and laughter this world had to offer while maintaining constant contact with the “unseen” Father in the Heavenly “world”.
I consider it a good thing that I need the joyous music, the vivid colors, the eye catching illumination, the hope of giving and receiving gifts, the fellowship with family and friends, the excitement of more intense worship, the warmth of the season, the heightened anticipation of the celebration of His coming to be with us in this world! The Christmas/Christbirth season brings with it a different world – one which is a little kinder and more caring, one in which forgiving others is a little easier, one which is metaphorically warmer, where relationships get closer, where there is a bit more gaiety, and cheer, and festivity, even among those who don’t grasp the true meaning of the occasion. It is a world in which Love is easier to experience. The world simply seems a slightly “better” place before Christmas, and I feel like a slightly “better” person. 
For just a few short, breathless weeks, I’m a child again! All the excitement and unbridled joy, all the unexplained hope of a child is mine again. I feel a little more blessed, happier, and more complete. I feel loved, as by my parents, as by my Father, just a little bit more than the rest of the year. Just a little. I need that little bit.
I need my Christmas now!
I’m starting today!
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