December 9, 2013 Neale Donald Walsch
My dear friends,
The Christmas season has always been a magical time for me. From the earliest days of my childhood it has represented a kind of transcending joy that overtakes my whole life. And it wasn’t just because of the presents, either. Sure, getting gifts at Christmas made an impression on me as a child, there’s no question about it. But there was something else “in the air,” and I could feel it.
I remember thinking as a small boy how different people were at holiday time. They seemed more cheerful somehow. More understanding, more accepting — and more forgiving, too.
Once, in a department store somewhere deep into December, I broke something. I don’t remember what it was, but I will always remember the clerk’s reaction. “Oh, that’s okay, sonny, don’t cry. No harm done. We’ll just get this right out of the way, and no one will worry about it. Merry Christmas, sweetheart!”
If that had been the 30th of August my parents would have been called and I would have been given “what for.” My Dad would have had to pay, and it would have been taken out of my allowance for a year.
So what is it that happens to us for three weeks in December that turns us into incredibly warm-hearted human beings? And what can we do to make it last past January 3rd?
“I wish it could be Christmas all year long!” I remember saying when I was seven. And, of course, it wasn’t the event that I wanted to see continue, it was the feeling. So, what could cause that spirit to continue?
Well, first, I think we’d have to change the basis of The Christmas Story itself. Now this is something that some people may not want to hear, but the Christmas Story in its strictly religious form will not heal the world. It has not, and it will not, and that should by now be clear to any objective observer.
I know that this may come as blasphemy in the midst of the Christmas season, but I think it is something that humanity would do well to explore.
The reason that Christmas has such a wonderful effect on so much of humanity is not only because it commemorates the birth of one who is said to be the Savior of all humankind, but because it gives birth again in our hearts to a thought, an idea, which we instantly recognize as the only thought that can save humankind: Peace on Earth, good will to all people everywhere.
It is the Christmas wish, it is the Christmas promise, that unites millions, not simply or only the secular Christmas Story as it has been told for hundreds of years. And so, perhaps it is time to do the unthinkable, and bring true joy to the world. Perhaps it is time to create a new Christmas Story. This New Story can tell us that the Son of God is born every day, every time that a newborn baby cries.
The New Story can tell us that Jesus Christ brought to the earth a striking example and a deep awareness of the Divinity of Every Living Being, and that through his birth and death we can all be reborn as the holy expression of Divinity that not just one human being was, but that we all are.
In memory of this wondrous Son we shall joyously sing and merrily proclaim that none of us can ever be apart from God, because all of us are a part OF God. We are all Sons and Daughters of God, and the life of the one whose birth we celebrate at Christmas shall be a testimony to that truth — as shall our own lives, should we follow his example and live his message of love for all, forgiveness for all, compassion for all, and peace for all.
Joyfully,
Neale
© 2013 ReCreation Foundation – http://www.cwg.org – Neale Donald Walsch is a modern day spiritual messenger whose words continue to touch the world in profound ways. His With God series of books has been translated into 27 languages, touching millions of lives and inspiring important changes in their day-to-day lives.
