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Posted: December 26th, 2007 at 12:37am By: Annette Bridges
This column originally was published on Dec. 20, 2006.
As the most wonderful time of the year nears its conclusion, I'm already wondering how I can keep this Christmas feeling all year long. There's something about this season that I never want to give up. And I dread its passing with as much emotion as I anticipate its arriving.
In the days and weeks that surround Christmas, there is peacefulness in every breath I take, an anticipation of joyful moments and loving feelings that translates into more patience and politeness and a smile.
Christmas has always been the happiest of holidays for me. Even in my family's most difficult hours, this season of love and joy could lift spirits, burdens and broken hearts. Christmas had a way of keeping us in the present — helping us leave an unpleasant past and squelch thoughts of worry about the future.
I love filling our home daily with holiday music. An impervious wall is built in song that nothing bad can penetrate. Stress and anguish are diminished in an instant when I hear joyful yuletide tunes. Never is there a month when my stereo is more used!
With the coming of Christmas, there is a hope of fellowship with family and dear friends, the search for special treasures for loved ones, and the celebration of the birth of Jesus — a man who typifies unconditional love, a forgiving heart and peacemaking. It's easy to want to celebrate such a life example. He embodied qualities that most of us aspire to.
Yes, Christmas reminds me of God's great gift that Christ Jesus so faithfully delivered to us — a new view of humankind as God's beloved children, not defined by race, tribe, culture or religion. Children united by a heritage of God-given goodness and love. Perhaps the greatest gift Jesus brought was a glimpse of God's healing Christ Spirit that has always been and that is present here and now. Christmas is a love story — the story of God's love for humanity, providing His children with the roadmap to holiness and health.
Is it really possible to keep this Christmas feeling all year, you ask? Yes!
An inscription I recently read on a holiday plaque tells why — "Love is always in season."
May you and I remember that indeed love is always in season. We don't have to pack away those warm fuzzy feelings we have for our fellow man this time of year. We've received the gift — the knowledge of our spiritual selfhood. Love is our spiritual nature, a nature that we can never lose, but only one we may sometimes forget or neglect.
So we can keep that giving spirit in our hearts all year and do something special for someone else for no particular reason. We can continue to share our lives with others and keep our families close to us in heart and in our actions. We can make sure our friends know how much we care throughout the year ahead. Truly, the spirit of loving each other does not end with the Christmas season.
As I type this column, I'm singing along with a favorite holiday tune, "What a blessed place the world would be if we had that Christmas feeling all year."
May you feel the healing presence of Christ this holiday season and always. And may we all remember our godly heritage and live up to our spiritual potential.
— — —
Annette Bridges is a free-lance writer and lives on a north Texas ranch with her husband, John. For the past 25 years, she has been a student of Christian Science, the method of healing explained in Mary Baker Eddy's book "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." Visit her website and participate in her blog at Annette Bridges.com and send her an email at {email annettebridges@gmail.com}annettebridges@gmail.com{/email}. © Copyright 2007 by Annette Bridges.
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This column originally was published on Dec. 20, 2006.
As the most wonderful time of the year nears its conclusion, I'm already wondering how I can keep this Christmas feeling all year long. There's something about this season that I never want to give up. And I dread its passing with as much emotion as I anticipate its arriving.
In the days and weeks that surround Christmas, there is peacefulness in every breath I take, an anticipation of joyful moments and loving feelings that translates into more patience and politeness and a smile.
Christmas has always been the happiest of holidays for me. Even in my family's most difficult hours, this season of love and joy could lift spirits, burdens and broken hearts. Christmas had a way of keeping us in the present — helping us leave an unpleasant past and squelch thoughts of worry about the future.
I love filling our home daily with holiday music. An impervious wall is built in song that nothing bad can penetrate. Stress and anguish are diminished in an instant when I hear joyful yuletide tunes. Never is there a month when my stereo is more used!
With the coming of Christmas, there is a hope of fellowship with family and dear friends, the search for special treasures for loved ones, and the celebration of the birth of Jesus — a man who typifies unconditional love, a forgiving heart and peacemaking. It's easy to want to celebrate such a life example. He embodied qualities that most of us aspire to.
Yes, Christmas reminds me of God's great gift that Christ Jesus so faithfully delivered to us — a new view of humankind as God's beloved children, not defined by race, tribe, culture or religion. Children united by a heritage of God-given goodness and love. Perhaps the greatest gift Jesus brought was a glimpse of God's healing Christ Spirit that has always been and that is present here and now. Christmas is a love story — the story of God's love for humanity, providing His children with the roadmap to holiness and health.
Is it really possible to keep this Christmas feeling all year, you ask? Yes!
An inscription I recently read on a holiday plaque tells why — "Love is always in season."
May you and I remember that indeed love is always in season. We don't have to pack away those warm fuzzy feelings we have for our fellow man this time of year. We've received the gift — the knowledge of our spiritual selfhood. Love is our spiritual nature, a nature that we can never lose, but only one we may sometimes forget or neglect.
So we can keep that giving spirit in our hearts all year and do something special for someone else for no particular reason. We can continue to share our lives with others and keep our families close to us in heart and in our actions. We can make sure our friends know how much we care throughout the year ahead. Truly, the spirit of loving each other does not end with the Christmas season.
As I type this column, I'm singing along with a favorite holiday tune, "What a blessed place the world would be if we had that Christmas feeling all year."
May you feel the healing presence of Christ this holiday season and always. And may we all remember our godly heritage and live up to our spiritual potential.
— — —
Annette Bridges is a free-lance writer and lives on a north Texas ranch with her husband, John. For the past 25 years, she has been a student of Christian Science, the method of healing explained in Mary Baker Eddy's book "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." Visit her website and participate in her blog at Annette Bridges.com and send her an email at {email annettebridges@gmail.com}annettebridges@gmail.com{/email}. © Copyright 2007 by Annette Bridges.
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