The True Meaning of Christmas

It is Christmas Day and all around the world, families are gathered to share in gift giving and special meals, of time together as they celebrate the day. But I am reminded that there are many who are alone today, many who are homeless, and some who cannot give gifts because they are too poor. And there are those who cannot celebrate openly because of persecution.

Some cannot celebrate because of anguish of heart and mind. The joys of the season are lost on them because they are too depressed or suffer from another form of mental illness. They are those whose lives are tenuous at best, who have lost all hope of a life that is free of pain, a terrible kind of pain that isn’t fixed with a band-aid. For them, Christmas is not a time of peace on earth, goodwill toward all.

Some have awakened to the same hunger pangs they went to sleep with. They struggle for water and shelter along with the relentless striving for enough food to stay alive, to feed children whose bellies are swollen from endless deprivation. There are children raising children because their parents are dead from AIDS, or because they are caught up in the lifestyle of poverty and gangs and meaningless living.

Not everyone is celebrating the birth of Christ today.

In the midst of the tearing of wrapping paper and the carving of hams and turkeys, set aside time to remember those members of humanity who suffer today for a myriad of reasons. Take a moment to remember them in prayer and thank God for the blessings of the day, then consider how you will spend your days in the coming year. For me? It will be to spend less time thinking of me and more time thinking of others, and then to match those thoughts with actions.

Today, I celebrate the birth of the Savior along with millions around the world and I pray that his life in me will not be in vain. That just as his birth was the beginning of a new age for the world, it will also be the beginning of a new attitude in me: that I have the same heart for the lost and hurting of the world as him. It’s what Christmas is all about.