whyznott

“I love the holidays because I love to shop” announced the perky but annoying woman who came into my living room courtesy of a commercial for one of the major chains. It seems that she is not alone, as during this time of year we are barraged by the message that we have to shop and be merry to truly enjoy Christmas!

Commercials like these seek to convince us that Christmas is all about shopping and being the perfect host!

The message is that we cannot be good parents, children, friends, etc, unless we can buy just the right gift for those we love, care for, of kind of like. According to these ads, the holidays cannot be truly happy without a tree surrounded by expensive gifts, a perfect party and an over flowing Christmas dinner table.

These commercials are effective as they do encourage people to shop and to spend money in order to achieve the perfection seen on those ads. This is what the advertising is supposed to do, and these ads do the job well. This is the make or break time for most retailers, and it is important for them that we do shop or they may not be around to see the next Christmas.

While I really cannot fault these commercials or advertising for doing what they are supposed to be doing (selling products and generating business) I have found that these visions of Christmas can be painful to watch at times as the truth is that the holidays are not necessarily a bright time for everyone, especially today as many people are struggling due to financial problems, such as high debt, lower wages, and unemployment.

There are a lot of people who cannot afford to make their holidays brighter through shopping; they cannot buy all the presents for their family and friends that they would like to, and they cannot throw lavish parties, or even participate in holiday festivities because they are struggling just to pay the bills and keep a roof over their heads. For these people Christmas can seem like a very dark season.

Recently, more than one friend expressed their dread of the holidays this year, because they are out of work and have to be very careful about every penny.

I understand this feeling very well as a few years ago, shortly after my divorce was finalized, I was living in a small apartment and working at low level corporate job which did not pay much. Times were tight, and I was living from paycheck to paycheck, then I was faced with a major bill that had to be paid right away and I found myself broke. That Christmas was going to be a bleak one for my daughter and I, as I could not afford to buy a tree or gifts for anyone. That year, I was lucky to be able to keep up with the rent, pay for daycare and to buy food; holiday gifts and celebrations were out of the question.

My daughter was young then, and did not understand how much trouble we were in, she just wanted Santa to bring her everything on television; but I knew that Santa was probably not going to come that year and every commercial for a new toy that she wanted was painful to watch, and pushed me deeper into despair. I felt like a failure as parent, and left out of the holiday celebration that was going on all around me.

That year, Christmas seemed like a very dark season for me.

There is a reason that Christmas is celebrated during the darkest time of year, back before Christianity came to Europe there was a tradition of holding great bonfires and celebrations during the darkest time of the year, it was seen as a way of calling the light back into the world, and it seemed to work as the days did begin to grow longer after this celebration.

When the Christianity came to Europe, the church sought a way to adapt the Christian faith to the lives of the people they wanted to convert, and saw this festival as an excellent opportunity to share the good news of Christ, who was proclaimed to be the light of the world!

Today, Christ is still the light that shines for those who walk darkness.

Just as I felt that I was walking in darkness that Christmas when I was broke and broken, hurting financially and emotionally; it was when my world seemed darkest that the light of Christmas shone it’s brightest!

One night, after a long day at work, an icy commute home, and picking up my daughter from daycare late, we arrived home to discover that the true light of Christmas had found us!

On the small porch in front of our apartment door, there was a tree and gifts for my daughter, as well as holiday treats, all left by some unknown and still anonymous benefactors! At first I felt embarrassed that I had messed up so badly that I needed such help, but then, I felt grateful that there were such kind people in the world, willing to help us have a happier holiday!

This is what Christmas is really about, it is not about shopping and creating the perfect holiday image, but about reaching out in friendship and care to share the true light of the holidays with each other!

The light that shines at Christmas does not come from the sign at the local Wal-Mart, nor does it shine through the television screen, this is the light of Christ, the light of hope and of God’s grace that has been born into our world, given to us as a free gift, simply because God loves us!

When we share this gift with others, we become the light of Christmas for those who may feel that this season holds nothing but darkness for them.

The light of Christmas has the power to bring hope to the hopeless, and create joy that has the power to overcome worry and despair…as the light of Christmas is the same light that shines on Easter morning, the same light that still shines in our world, through each of us as we seek to share the good news of God’s love with the world…just as those unnamed people did for my daughter and I that Christmas long ago.

The true joy of Christmas is not in shopping or in making the perfect holiday experience; instead, it is in experiencing the holiday and each other as a gift of God’s grace, and in sharing that gift with others.

We can share this gift in many ways, through donating to charities, volunteering to help others, and by simply treating others with kindness and respect, because where the love of God is shared the light of Christmas shines bright enough to banish any darkness.