The Christmas Spirit In Action

Christmas feels a little different this year. I’ve spent more time on two wheels in the last few weeks than I have most of the summer, welcomed by unseasonable weather.

The weather adjusted recently, welcoming the Santa, sleigh, and Frosty the Snowman concept of Christmas.

In the spirit of traditional or classic storylines, what causes a heart to be “two sizes too small,” or to choose an island adventure over family and friends? What causes a person who enjoys life to abruptly become withdrawn and almost reclusive? The answers are probably endless and unique to the individual. The following question is just as valid: how does a person get back into the light? How does a person put away what dims the light of living among humanity? One answer is to focus on other people more than yourself.

From the Grinch to Scrooge, the Cranks to Mary and Joseph, the “spirit” of Christmas is about looking beyond your immediate wants and focus on someone else’s needs. The Grinch realized with the town singing that Christmas is more than bright lights and pretty packages. Scrooge needed three ghosts to get straightened out.

Mary and Joseph could have skipped out in the middle of the night and saved themselves from all of the stares and sneers as a pregnant teenage couple. You might say the taxing and registering was a saving grace. They were traveling cross-country, one historian estimates about 80 miles by foot and by mule, rather than staying home where parenthood out of wedlock was even worse than it is now.

So what do we do to reach out. I think of trips I’ve made to Central America, to areas where all the clothes in a home could fit in a duffle bag, where graduating from a good school is a luxury and a hot shower is almost unheard of. It is a place where a short distance from a major metropolis people are living in clay huts barely the size of a single-car garage, frequently hand-built. Yet, when a mission visits, they give of what little they have.

I wonder how many would give up the last dollar in their wallet for someone who needed a cup of coffee, or the remainder of a grocery bill covered. Is it worth being a blessing so that you can be blessed? Most of us don’t cook by fire, worry about a strong wind toppling our home like we’re living in a fairy tale. However, nearly all of us could use a person to take the time to hold the door, wait an extra second at the traffic light or a genuine Merry Christmas when meeting someone on the sidewalk.

We all have something to share, something to encourage that random person we meet. Use the Christmas season to reach out to people who need encouraging. Giving to those who give to us has no gain. It is a quid pro quo. Real giving is blessing someone who you don’t believe can return the blessing.