A Look Back at December 2011
December is a month when charity is in many people’s thought. There are many obvious ways for charitable giving as organizations put out the need for donations, bell ringers sit in often very cold conditions with their red kettles, angel trees stand in our malls, and even the grocery stores offer pre-packed bags of groceries one can purchase for donation. There were touching stories in the news of people anonymously paying balances on lay-a-ways for strangers. All of these are loving activities that helped so many in need in our communities. Even our Christian Science Society got involved with a much needed donation to the local Salvation Army. It’s a good feeling to express charity. And, of course, we have our personal lists of ways to express charity to our family and friends. All in all, December can be a very busy time for decisions and preparing for the holidays.
When I thought of all the blessings the Season brings I wanted to take the time to go a bit deeper into what all this activity means and brings to me. I read in Miscellaneous Writings where Mrs. Eddy explains charity as love. I knew this as we often substitute the word love for charity in the beautiful verses in I Corinthians chapter 13. Verse 13 summarizes the chapter saying “And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity [Love].” Since God is Love, charitable acts are expressing God. Since man is made in the image and likeness of God, expressing Love is a natural quality we all can embrace. When my daughter was young and would ask if Santa was real, I would tell her that Christmas was about Love. Christmas was a time to give thanks to God and cherish His great gift to us, “Jesus the way-shower”. S&H 30:7
I decided to look up in Prose Works what Mary Bake Eddy wrote about Christmas. A passage I found in Miscellany, page 262 reads “Christmas to me is the reminder of God’s great gift, - His spiritual idea, man and the universe, - a gift which so transcends mortal, material, sensual giving that the merriment, mad ambition, rivalry, and ritual of our common Christmas seem a human mockery in mimicry of the real worship in commemoration of Christ’s coming.” Well, this gave me thought and moved me to consider how I can bring more of the Christ into planning for, receiving and sharing a Christmas “in commemoration of Christ’s coming.”
First I realized I needed to begin each day with prayer asking God how I could express more love and giving in my day. It didn’t take long before an opportunity arose to help a friend with a service project she had signed up for at her church. It was helping at a local nursing home with the weekly bingo session. Now I am not a fan of bingo so my first reaction was to decline. However, I turned it over to God and then saw it as an opportunity to bring love, light and a sense of joy to the residents. I brought a gift of love to the nursing home and left with a gift of thanks and their dear sweet smiles.
Second I realized that prepping for a family Christmas didn’t have to be overwhelming, rushed, or stressful. We were expecting nine family members for the holiday weekend and 12-16 for Christmas dinner. As I went about the traditional activities of selecting and wrapping presents, decorating the house and preparing the menus, I wanted to express gratitude that God has blessed me with a large and loving family to share Christmas with. My husband and I look at our home as a sanctuary of harmony where all can feel welcome and comfortable. It turned out we had an opportunity to apply this idea of welcome to our church service Christmas Day. My husband and I were the only members of our Society that would be in the area for service. We could make the decision to close and simply have service in our living room with the family or we could present open doors to the community and keep our regular Sunday schedule. Reminded that Christmas commemorates the birth of Jesus, we felt a need to have open doors at church. My husband invited his eldest daughter to be Second Reader and on her delighted acceptance, I became Sunday School teacher to our four grandchildren who would be in attendance. What a blessed opportunity to work with the little ones in Sunday School. And it gave my husband who is normally Second Reader, the experience of preparing and being First Reader, and his daughter to ‘get her feet wet’ in reading as Second Reader. Though it was all family in attendance, it was a holy, blessed service. And the children expressed joy and patience all morning as they waited until afternoon to open their presents.
Another delightful blessing was out of the mouth of our three year old granddaughter. On the night of their arrival, the two little cousins were put to bed. The two year old started to cry. After a minute or so the older child said “Mary, listen up. I’m only going to say this once: You are not alone. I am here with you.” More tears. The three year old again: “God is here with you. You can’t see Him but He is here right now so go to sleep!” It was a peaceful rest of night.
Christmas was filled with joy and love. It was a beautiful lesson in how consciously keeping the Christ in thought brings out the order, harmony and fulfillment of each activity. On the day of departure we all agreed that it was a special Christmas filled with so much harmony and affection. Truly Love as present at our table. Our “cup runneth over” with Love.
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