Christmas Gifts
There’s an old song which goes, “All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth.” It is amusing, of course, and slightly absurd. If a person could have ANYTHING at all, reasons the egoic mind, why would he only want his two front teeth?
We assume that he wants the teeth BACK because they are missing - but maybe that is not the case at all.
Whether or not the songwriter intended it, there is a more universal message here about the wisdom of desiring what is intended for us alone. No one else could have this boy’s two front teeth, so he is asking for what only he can receive.
The Christmas season lasts for twelve full days. This is the time of the Gift, of bestowing and of receiving. And the gift that human souls truly want is not to be found in a department store or purchased with any amount of money. It is something uniquely intended for us alone, something only we can receive.
What is this Gift? Perhaps it could be described thus:
To know as an unshakable reality that we are in God’s keeping and that nothing in our lives is accidental or arbitrary. To realize we can stop trying to protect ourselves or make things “better” because only that which is for our ultimate good will be allowed to happen.
Such a stupendous gift is experienced by us as “trust.” Trust that all is well, even a “well of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 14:4).
We have the choice and the responsibility to trust that the gift has in fact been given, especially in those moments where fear arises and threatens to consume everything and cast us into the shadows again.
So to the Great Giver let us offer our deepest appreciation and thanks for the most perfect Gift of all.
Easier said than felt. Did you experience the trust, the gift? Too much of Christianity is about the pretense of appreciation. No real child will show signs of trust or act as if all is well unless its genuinely felt so why shouldn't adults? If one is fearful, then that is how one feels. Realization is well and good but if a sense of God is merely a hope, a belief, a trust even, rather than a knowing, its not something that resides in the present, just a made up future to deal with quiet desperation. Sorry to sound jaded but I've heard too many hypocritical cries from too many pulpits. I for one slept through this Christmas big time. If memory serves correct wasnt' December 25th just a convenient date on the calendar selected by a controlling Church to fight paganism?
ReplyDeleteMuch thanks for your gift of rememberance Countdown... I have been wanting & needing in time quite a bit as of late.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful, greatly appreciated :-)
This is so lovely. I recently encountered my biggest fear which was on par (for me) with waiting for a diagnosis. I had been contemplating a 4th go-round with The Presence Process but was so cagey, I had to sit with that to see if I was called to re-enter or just reacting. After being sure I was to enter again, I integrated this biggest fear. This 4th time through the process is quite different. The first three times through were like unraveling a sweater that I had continued knitting without realizing I had dropped a stich and lost the pattern. This time it is like starting from where the error in the pattern started and re-knitting correctly. It has been more re-building than cleansing. Like a good dose of pro-biotics after a long fast. Many, many people from my childhood have contacted me through the social media and it is as though my entire past has been re-written and everything and everyone is showing up differently than I remember. The "setups" have turned into opportunities to re-connect with people in a way that makes me sob with the appreciation you describe here. I usually only lurk here and do not post, but did want to thank you for your blog this Christmas.
ReplyDelete