It
is quite significant don’t you think that Christmas is exactly one week away
from the New Year? I’m not quite sure how and why this particular date came to
be fixed but researching it came across some important trivia from the
archives:
1.
The
first recorded date of Christmas being celebrated on December 25th was in
336AD, during the time of the Roman Emperor Constantine (he was the first
Christian Roman Emperor).
2.
A
few years later, Pope Julius I officially declared that the birth of Jesus
would be celebrated on the 25th December.
3.
There
are many different traditions and theories as to why Christmas is celebrated on
December 25th. A very early Christian tradition said that the day when Mary was told
that she would have a very special baby, Jesus (called the
Annunciation) was on March 25th - and it's still celebrated today on the 25th
March. Nine months after the 25th March is the 25th December! March 25th was
also the day some early Christians thought the world had been made, and also
the day that Jesus died on when he was an adult.
4.
December
25th might have also been chosen because the Winter Solstice and the ancient
pagan Roman midwinter festivals called 'Saturnalia' and 'Dies Natalis Solis
Invicti' took place in December around this date - so it was a time when people
already celebrated things.
5.
The
Winter Solstice is also the shortest day, where there is the shortest time
between the sun rising and the sun setting. It happens on December 21st
– which coincidentally is also today. To pagans this meant that the winter was
over and spring was coming and they had a festival to celebrate it and
worshipped the sun for winning over the darkness of winter.
However,
as much as there are theories as to when and how the date is chosen, it is
still significant because this date, December 25th comes at that time of the
year when we look back at the days that have gone by us and also a time of
introspection to look within us as we await the year that lies ahead of us.
Christmas
is special because it is a day that we celebrate the birth of our Saviour, a
day when God Himself came down to be born as one of us. It talks of God’s great
love and mercy for each of us when He chose to send us His Son. There will be
many wonderful messages that will be shared this season but I thought I would
share with you something slightly different.
I
had seen a picture on the net and it had four brief points – I had to edit it a
bit :P but because the message of it was so direct, I felt it was appropriate
to share as we look forward to Christmas and the New Year.
So Point Number or Rule
Number 1: WAKE UP!
You
must be thinking wake up? What’s so great about that? Everybody does that! It’s
a common thing, something as natural as breathing. But not everyone does; for
many, the past night? That was their last on earth.
So
what do I mean by wake up? It means to be grateful. Be thankful, every morning,
as you open your eyes and as your feet touch the floor.
Denzel
Washington, a famous Hollywood actor, in one of his speeches to a group of
young, aspiring actors said these words – “I pray that you all put your shoes
way under the bed at night so that you gotta get on your knees in the morning
to find them. And while you're down there thank God for grace and mercy and
understanding. We all fall short of the glory, we all got plenty. If you just
start thinking of all the things you've got to say thank you for, that's a day.
That's easily a day…”
So
the rule number one is wake up, in other words be
grateful.
Unfortunately
for many of us, we have forgotten how to be thankful. Gratitude I believe is a
habit we need to inculcate, a habit we need to develop, until it becomes the
very fibre and essence of us.
You
might ask why? Why be grateful? How can we be grateful when so many terrible
things are happening around us? We only have to open the newspapers to see that
evil is all around us, that inexplicable horrors are being inflicted by men and
that these acts are increasing every day.
And
yet it is children that still show us the way; children that have shown us that
in spite of the terrible tragedies that have befallen them, they can still
stand up and say – “I am alive. I am thankful”.
Also,
I believe that by being grateful we are acknowledging that while we do not yet
understand, why or what are these evils that befall us, we trust, and surrender;
that in spite of all of this, God is in control.
That is in essence at the
heart of thankfulness, the admitting and the confessing, that the Lord is in
control.
“And
in ALL things give thanks, for this is
the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you..” – 1 Thessalonians
5:18
Rule Number 2: GET TO WORK
Do
what you have been assigned to do, to the best of your ability. Give it all you
have, no matter how small or insignificant you might think you are.
With
the advent of technology, cell phones and the social media network, so many
abbreviations have come to be used in our vocabulary these days, btw, ttyl,
lol.
Sometimes
it is hard to figure out what all these acronyms mean. The other day there were
these pictures with YOLO written on it and I could not figure out what it meant
so I looked it up. Apparently it means You Only Live Once.
Which
actually is not true. You only die once.
“And
it is appointed for men to die once, and after that, comes the judgement.” –
Hebrews 9:27
For
those that may think that we have been given a bad life or someone else has
been given a good life, remember we have been given a life. It is up to us to
make it good or bad.
There
is a popular commercial on television these days that shows a young man, a
prosperous business man enjoying life on the golf course, driving an expensive
car, buying expensive things and then the question is asked – what will you be
remembered for?
The
scene then moves to a desert region where the young man is working on a drill,
until finally water gushes out. All the people gathered around cannot contain
their happiness with an old lady blessing him. It ends with the caption – “Be
Remembered For Good”.
SO
work hard, work with integrity and with diligence, whatever task it is that God
has given you. Whether you are a student, or a home maker or a teacher, at
office, whatever, do whatever God has given you to the best of your ability.
Our
dates of birth do not determine how successful we can be; the places where we
are born do not define what we can become; our personality type – Type A or
Type B cannot decide how or what path our lives will take; only our choices do.
So
choose to focus, choose the goals you set for yourselves;
choose
to work and to work hard, persevering despite the odds;
choose
to be disciplined and determined;
and
choose to live life in the manner that God has planned for you.
Rule Number 3: BE KIND.
There
is a saying – “Be sure to taste your words before you spit them out”.
Proverbs
15:1 says “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”
SO
be kind, in your speech, in your dealings with others, in the way in which you
interact with the people around you.
In
this modern day age, it is every man (or woman) for himself. The rules have
changed and the saying “the ends justifies the means” has become the policy for
almost everything, whether it is in business or politics and sadly even the
church.
There
is no compassion, no heart left. We would rather film someone dying or being
molested than step in and be involved. We would rather waste what we have than
give to the one in need. The world has degenerated into one big me, myself.
Interesting the word ‘selfie’ so close to ‘selfish’ and that is what we have
become. The whole world is connected by a gigantic network called the internet
but we could not be further apart.
Don’t
get me wrong. The innovations of today is a great blessing but again it is up
to us, how we use it.
To
lift somebody up, to help create awareness and shed light on a bad situation,
to use it to bring about good, that should be the ultimate aim.
Not
to spread slander or abuse, not to encourage gossip or malice.
Jorge
Munoz is a school bus driver by day and an angel by night. Every night for
more than 5 years, he has gone home and cooked food for hundreds of people on
his old stove. He then goes to a street corner in Queens, New York and feeds
those that are hungry. He does this with his own money because "it's the
right thing to do".
All
of us need to find ‘right thing to do’ and do it repeatedly every day, every
moment of our lives..
And Rule Number 4:
REPEAT.
Simple
isn’t it?
No
other day, Christmas and no one else, Jesus Himself, could have been a better
example of how we should live our lives. Let us look at the rules again:
Rule Number 1: wake up
or in other words, be grateful. Jesus chose to be born as one of us, as a
baby and every single day of His life here on earth was spent in gratitude to
His Father. Even on the darkest night, He chose to say, Not my will, but Thine.
Gratitude and submission go hand in hand.
Rule Number 2: Get to
work:
Jesus did the will of His Father right from the moment He came to us; first as
a son to Mary and Joseph and then when it was time, to reach out to hundreds
and thousands, offering them hope and salvation. He did not stop to think or
say “But Why?” Neither did he wait for accolades or acknowledgements. He simply
went about doing His Father’s business, what He was called to do.
Rule Number 3: Be Kind: Jesus was
compassionate and showed grace and mercy to those whom we consider least
deserved it and in doing so, showed us how and why we should too.
Never, ever, underestimate your ability to make someone’s life better (or worse). Many times we are unaware of the impact we have on the lives of others – it is up to us to choose whether it is for good or bad.
And finally Rule Number
4: Repeat the whole thing all over again.
What
does that involve? It simply means that every day, we are called to do the best
we can. Remember, sometimes it is only a bad day, never a bad life. So if
you’ve had a bad day or multiple bad days, remember there is always another one
to look forward to.
God
has placed within us different talents – some that are visible, like singing,
painting or having a brilliant mind, creating masterpieces in the artistic or
scientific field. Others are not so visible, like generosity or patience or
giving of your time, some of a sweet nature.
Whatever
it is, each one of us have been given a gift and we need to use it fully and
completely.
So
that at the end of our lives when we stand before Him, we can hear the words,
“Well done, thou good and faithful servant…”
In
the words of Helen Steiner Rice, "Peace on earth will come to stay when we live
Christmas every day…"
Merry
Christmas and God bless you.... :)
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