Christmas and outward symbols

Kids naturally want to help others.  Little things count.

 

We loved to open mysterious and brightly wrapped packages as youngsters.  Yet Christmas becomes more, or less, to us as our years advance.  Less as the gift-receiving is no longer a big deal.  It becomes more as we discover the joys of giving.  As we celebrate Christ in our hearts.

Some who have understood this, have also been able to articulate it.  This poem is one of my favorites.  It reminds us that withdrawing from the hubbub is possible.  It sets a quiet standard for feeling that deep peace and love in our hearts, so that it finds expression in our lives.

John Greenleaf Whittier, American poet, wrote of Christmas:

Let every creature hail the morn On which the holy child was born And know, through God's exceeding grace, Release from things of time and place.

I listen, from no mortal tongue, To hear the song the angels sung, And wait within myself to know The Christmas lilies bud and blow.

The outward symbols disappear From him whose inward sight is clear, And small must be the choice of days To him who fills them all with praise.

Keep while ye need it, brothers mine, With honest zeal your Christmas sign, But judge not him who every morn Feels in his heart the Lord Christ born.

These words are in the Christian Science hymnal of 1937, hymn #170.