Christmas in Your Heart

There's still Christmas at home because we haven't taken the decorations down yet or put away all of the bags and presents. There's still Christmas in the mart because they're trying to sell whatever didn't sell by Christmas by having after-Christmas sales. And there's still Christmas at church, to a certain extent, because we talk about Christ every week. But Christmas season is very nearly over, and that'll soon be reflected everywhere.

Homes, malls, and supermarkets all over America will take down their decorations, stop playing Christmas music, and start the new year with business as usual. In church, I expect that we'll hear less about Christmas and more about what spiritual progress we'll resolve to make for the new year. Very soon, the world will simply move on. But should we?

I understand that Christmastime can't go on forever. People don't have it in their budgets to continually give each other gifts or pay an increased electric bill. Many people are sick and tired of Christmas music. Not all Christian messages can center on Bethlehem. Heck, some of my better blog posts were focussed on garbage! And even if we could let it be Christmas forever, it would no longer be special if we did. People would start saying "Merry Christmas" with the same enthusiasm with which they say "Hi. How's it going?" and we can't have that. In order for Christmastime to be Christmastime, it eventually has to end.

But that doesn't mean we have to stop thinking about Jesus, or being kind and generous, or singing. Christmas will be gone from from our stores and neighborhoods, and even from our homes and churches (except that Mom will still have a Nativity scene on the mantel and a string of lights attached to the porch light), but we can still remember the spirit we felt at Christmastime, and we can still do the things we have to do to feel it again. We can let the spirit of Christmas sink deep into our hearts and stay there all year long.

We can't always give generous gifts to each other, but we can always be kind. We can serve each other. We can lift spirits with a kind word or even just a smile. We don't have to be rich to do that. We can keep singing, even Christmas songs. It might annoy a few people, but it'll be fun. And we can and should always think about and remember our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. There is never a bad time to do that, and thinking of Jesus is the very essence of Christmas.

It's true that the celebration is over, and the sales will soon be over, too. All of the decorations will be packed back into the garage or shed, save for a special few, and I don't know exactly what will happen with all the Christmas trees we've cut down, but I know that they're not going to stick around here. But the spirit of Christmas will, in my heart at least. One of the sappiest Christmastime quotes I've read this year say that "the Christmas spirit is the Christ spirit," and that's something we should keep in our hearts always.