“With No Malice”©2012
A General Interest Opinion Column by an opinionated person.
Vic Topmiller Jr.
12/24/12(57)
Christmas
“The hour in which the Prince of Peace was born”.
William Cullum Bryant.

Will Christmas Ever Be The Same?


For a lot of years Christmas has been the season of “Great Joy and Peace Good Will To Men On Earth.”

It still is. It's all a matter of the heart and mind.

It's a matter of the heart if the beauty of the season tugs at your heart. If you have great and happy anticipations, if you look forward to time with family, if you look forward to sharing gifts, if you seek out someone in need and present a gift of happiness or maybe a gift of need, if you search the community for homes decorated with loving care and thoughtfulness, if you make a time to re-read Luke and Matthew 2.

It's a matter of the mind if you allow yourself to become carried away in the emotions of the season. A happy moment as you open gifts from a friend or loved one, a tearful moment as you receive an unexpected gift from a friend you thought lost, or another tearful moment as you reflect on dear ones that will not be there this year or any other year, those who have shared Christmas with you for so many years, those that you may in your mind know that in some way their presence is felt in your heart, but also realize that that in no way is a substitute for a warm embrace or an exciting greeting at the door.

But as Charley Brown would say, “What is the real meaning of Christmas?”

In truth, can the meaning of Christmas, as we see it acted out these days, have so many meanings? Like a tool or implement designed to meet our needs? How is it that we have let the commercialization of Christmas destroy the real meaning of Christmas? Don't you cringe when you see young parents max their credit cards to fulfill the demands of the retailers? How much happiness will they receive in the following year, especially when they recognize that the junk they purchased for the excitement on Christmas morning on a few days afterwards becomes a burden of storage? Yes, and don't forget, 22% if the card isn't repaid in full in thirty days. How could this game possibly portray the meaning of Christmas?

And how is it that alcohol has become such an important part of the celebration? Explain to me how the consumption of alcohol in some way enhances the spirit of Christmas. Well, I'm waiting. Death on the highways – money spent on a drug taken away from the needs of the family – children watching their parents becoming stupified and stupid – parents consumed in their own passions, instead of sharing and exemplifying the true meaning of Christmas.

But for those of us who still hear the bell, who can still see the star in the sky, who have retained the picture of Mary kissing the Baby in the animal manger, who can still see God's angel pointing the way to the baby for the shepherds on the hills and the pomp and ceremony of the awestruck Wise Men bowing with their gifts for the special baby – well, we know the real meaning of Christmas. To each one of us it is a little different while in the end it comes out the same. God loved us so much that he was not going to let Satan win the battle that began in the garden. He would provide a way for each of his creations to find a way back to him, to restore that beautiful, wonderful and eternal relationship we had with him and he with us. To end the bloody sacrifice of the lamb on the hill.

His plan was to provide a bloody and cruel sacrifice that would be the final sacrifice for all who would believe. The Baby, who grew up to be the sacrifice.

But yet it is given to us a gift more important than all the gifts of all times to have with great joy in this season.

Have a very merry and appreciative Christmas.


That's My Opinion.

“The Real Meaning of Christmas”         

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