Dear Friends,
December is here, the last month of the year and in my humble opinion, the most special of all. It’s the month we welcome the birth of Christ and, with it, the spirit of Christmas.
Now that we are in the age of AI, I ventured to ask ChatGPT to define the “spirit of Christmas,” and here is what it offered: “The spirit of Christmas is about giving, compassion and love, and it centers on the Christian celebration of Jesus Christ’s birth. It encourages a focus on kindness and joy and involves acts of service and generosity rather than material gifts. The spirit is found in acts of love and sacrifice, putting others’ needs first, and sharing peace and understanding with everyone.”
I also found this excerpt on the spirit of Christmas from the Orthodox Christian Network’s website, “It’s the incarnation. The Son of God becomes a human son. Christ became a human person. This is the great event that warms every one of us, which warms the whole of humankind. This is the exceeding love of God for us that made Him become ‘one of us’. This is the act that casts far away the notion of ‘religion’, because ‘religion’ is the creation of God by us humans, whereas what we have here is the revelation of God to us. With this incarnation, the path to heaven, which was blocked, is open again and our bridge of communication with God has been rebuilt. Christ, with His incarnation, has taken us back to our state before the Fall, to our former beauty. We celebrate because we can become gods, without the lapse of Adam and Eve which meant we were without God and far-removed from Him. We’re deified through God.”
Pretty amazing wisdom.
Many experience Christmas through tradition, family, gift-giving and celebration. Others feel an even deeper connection through worshiping Christ—the one who became one of us and died for us, to wash away sin, so we may live forever. That, to me, is the true meaning of Christmas.
Still, I love the gift-giving part too. It warms my heart to see a loved one’s surprise when their gift is received—when their day becomes a little brighter and they feel loved and seen. Now that’s joy!
I hope you have a joyous Christmas shared with the ones you love. But if you can’t, do not despair. Go spread joy to someone who could really use it. Make someone laugh. Give an unexpected gift. It will truly make your day
Merry Christmas!
