These Are My JOTtings, Part #2

Why is Christmas Important?

Christmas.

The mere word creates emotions,
both good and bad.

Some of the happiest times of childhood
are at Christmastime for some.
Some of the most distressing times of childhood
are at Christmastime for others.

Why has Christmas become this annual big event?

What do musical pageants in churches and schools
have to do with life, during the other eleven months of the year?

Christmas is December.
December is Christmas.
Joyful gifts. Gifts of joy.
Songs. Sweets. Aromas.
Dancing children at play.


Christmas.

Is it just for Christians?
Do others of the world find benefit?

How could one event of such an inauspicious beginning
have such a lasting impact on the world for over two thousand years?

How could a homeless man in ancient Israel have created a modern timeline,
that counts the days from his birth?
How could a little boy born in a smelly stable create the sweetness of peace,
that has potential benefit for all of Mankind?
How could a carpenter with rough hands build a church with the lasting gentleness of peace?

Christmas means Peace.
Peace means Christmas.
Hope exists within its arms.
It's arms bring Hope to all.


Jesus, Joshua, Osee, Hosea, Oshea, Yeshua,
all have the same root meaning.
The name means Salvation.
When someone is in charge,
when enemies are kept at bay,
when strength of character,
purity of heart, and everlasting Truth (John 14:6)
are found in the One, Who has created everything, (Genesis 1:1; John 1:1)
then Peace has the opportunity to flourish
in the heart and in the world at large.

The opposite of Jesus is chaos. (Genesis 1:2)

One wonders how a man, who, arguably, never owned a home of His own on Earth is the heir to the everlasting Home in Heaven. One wonders how this homeless man with twelve disciples, (one of whom betrayed him to death,) has had His message of Hope and Peace to fill the entire Earth in two thousand years when He Himself lived on Earth just scant months past His thirty-third birthday.

Jesus did so little, that is revered as being the necessary things for creating fame in modern life,
yet people around the world reverence or at least respect His name, even if they do not embrace His message.

What an upside-down Kingdom!
Become famous by serving others.
Give your life away in order to draw others to Life Everlasting.

The true spirit of Christmas lives every day of the year.
For this we can agree with the immortal words of Charles Dickens,
through the mouth of his amazing character, Ebenezer Scrooge,

“I will honour Christmas in my heart,
and try to keep it all the year.
I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future.
The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me.
I will not shut out the lessons that they teach!”
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/494832-i-will-honour-christmas-in-my-heart-and-...

Scrooge gives me hope, that even the most self-absorbed, angry hearts can be redeemed by Jesus, the Prince of Peace.

by Jay O'Toole
on December 13th, 2019