Contemplation #17

A Christmas Contemplation

When you think of Christmas, what comes to mind? For most of us, our thoughts of Christmas are intimately tied to our Christmas past. We all have a Christmas past; a personal history of Christmas experiences which color and define our expectations for the season. As a result, we all experience the season differently.

Many get caught in the commercialism of the season. For some, the holidays are something to be endured, and its greatest joy is getting through it.  For some, it is a time of loneliness and grief.  And then there are those for which the season is a time of family celebrations and joyful reunions, while for others the season brings out their deepest family dysfunction.

In whatever way we experience this holiday we call Christmas, one thing is true: the quality of our holiday experience is profoundly shaped by our expectations, which are a byproduct of our Christmas past.  We come into the season with an expectation of what Christmas “should be” or “has been,” and this shapes our experience of the Christmas present.

However, at any given time, if we choose, Christmas can be a time of spiritual renewal.  A time to take pause, calm down, and reflect deeply on the truth about ourselves. A time to let go of the past and all expectations, and open our mind to remembering that we are all children born of Christ’s love–children of the Divine. It can be a time for reflecting on the gift of Divine Love, which for a brief time in our history manifested with absolute perfection through the life of a baby, child, teacher, prophet, and brother we call Jesus.

This Christmas, let us take pause and reflect on the Christ in the Christmas present. Let us begin by recognizing that the Christ in the manger was not a helpless little baby. Jesus was the helpless little baby, and yet in and through his helplessness shown the omnipresent consciousness of God.

On that first Christmas morning, Christ, the unconditional and eternal love of our Creator, was shown through the baby Jesus for all the world to see. God gave his gift of perfect love to the world, wrapped in the form of a baby named Jesus.

For those who are open and ready to receive it, the Christmas gift of Divine love is offered anew each and every Christmas. And in fact it is offered us anew every day, in every moment, in every breath that we breathe.

For the spiritually awakened, Christmas (and Easter) are everyday celebrations! The problem is we get busy, we get distracted, we close our eyes and ears and we forget the truth. And so every year the holiday season comes round once more to remind us of the Christ in the Christmas present; the gift of eternal Divine love which is ours for the asking.

With this Christmas comes another opportunity to awaken to the truth that the eternal unconditional love of God, through which anything is possible, is flowing abundantly within us and all around us! The perfect love that is shown unobstructed through our brother Jesus is the same love that shines within you and me. The question is never “Is Christ in you or is Christ in me? The question is always how aware are we of the Christ within us?

So let us take some moments this Christmas to reflect on the Christ in the Christmas present; the perfect love that is within and all around us in every moment of every day. The Christ that is in the air that we breathe, in every person we see, in everything that we do and possess. The Christ that is in me, in you, and in all the space which seems to separate us.

In the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus is quoted to say:

“The kingdom of heaven is within you and all around you.”

Jesus spoke these words to his closest disciples to remind them of the Christ in the Christmas present. To remind them that the Christmas present was not he, the man, but  the living Christ (perfect love) which flowed through him, each of them, and every one of us as well! God’s Christmas present to the world is his unconditional love, which flowed with perfection through the baby and life of Jesus, and flows eternally within each of us.

A true celebration of Christmas is an awakening to the awareness that we are all born of Christ love; we are children of the Divine. Christmas is a time to love Jesus, awaken to the Christ within us, and fall to our knees and worship God the creator from which our Christ love flows.

Again from the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus is quoted to say,

“I am not your master. Because you have drunk, you have become intoxicated from the bubbling spring which I have measured out”

In these words Jesus is saying to his disciples, “You have become intoxicated by the perfect love of Christ that flows through me, and because of this you seek to make me your master, to worship me and make me your King. Worship not I the man, but awaken to the Christ in you, which is also in me, and fall to your knees and worship the father from which Christ love flows!”

To celebrate Christmas merely as the birth of Jesus is like receiving the most incredible gift imaginable, in the most beautiful of wrappings. And because we become so intoxicated with the beauty of the wrappings, we put the gift on our mantle and never open it!

My friends, our Christmas present is Christ!  It is the perfect love which lives eternally in the cradle of every human heart, and which is received in the inner cathedral of silent meditation. Far too many celebrate Christmas, but never open their Christmas present!

To receive the Christ in the Christmas present, we must dive deep into the silence of our heart and discover the inner cathedral of Divine love, where Christ love flows eternal. To see Christmas merely as the celebration of Jesus’s birth, or worse yet to get lost in commercialism and holiday stress, is an insult to God; it is a rejection of his Christmas gift.

Let us make no mistake, every human heart craves for Christ love. When we reject God’s Christmas gift, we have no choice but to settle for shabby substitutes. Now we must seek for the love we crave outside ourselves in the form of sex, money, power, prestige, possessions, drugs… anything that might fill us up and make us feel complete, special, and secure.

Of course there is no substitute for Christ love; nothing else can satisfy our cravings. And so without the Christmas gift of the Christ within, we become prisoners to sense desires, and our relationships buckle, bend, and eventually break under the stress of neediness and loveless acts.  .

Christmas is a time for reflection; a time to slow down, take pause, and remember that the love we need must be found within ourselves. Attempts to find the Christ love we crave in one another is what burdens and destroys relationships. God created relationships for the purpose of sharing and celebrating the Christ love which lives and flows abundantly within each of us. Our relationships were never intended to be the source of our love, but rather opportunities for the celebration of it. When we lose this awareness, our relationships suffer.

This holiday season let us take time to dive deep into the inner silence of our own heart. Let us seek and find the Christ in our Christmas present, which lives on the altar of the inner cathedral of silent meditation, and allow this perfect love to shine through each of us as it did the baby Jesus on that first Christmas morn.

And having discovered the Christ in our Christmas present, let us immediately give it away. For we know that in order to keep Christ’s love, we must continually give it away, and remain open to seeing it in everyone and everything. And with this new awakening let…

• Every Christmas light reminds us of the divine light of Christ love which burns eternally within us.
• Every Christmas star awaken us to the truth that we are Christ children born of eternal love.
• Every Christmas wreath deepen our appreciation for the perfect peace of Christ which is always as close as our next breath.
• Every Christmas gift exchange be a symbolic reminder that the more love we give, the more love we receive.
• Every Christmas greeting be a verbal altar upon which we extend our gratitude for the Christ in the Christmas present; God’s eternal gift of unconditional love.
• With every retelling and reenactment of the Christmas story, let our Christ awareness deepen and expand.

And let us allow

• The greenery of the season to be a joyful reminder that life is eternal and death need not be feared, nor does death have the power to separate us from those we truly love.

My friends, Christ lives in every breath and in every atom and every cell of our body. Christ lives in everyone we meet and in the space which seems to separate us. May this Christmas be the time in which we open our Christmas present and discover God’s gift of Christ love; the love through which we were created.

A

Star,

a light

in darkness,

is the sign of

Christmas. See it

not outside yourself,

but shining in the heaven

within, and accept it as the

sign the time of Christ has come!.

Amen

ACIM