Christmas is a Choice
Christmas is not an event.
Christmas is not a holiday.
Christmas is not a church service.
Christmas is not a set of familiar carols or decorations of red and green or a jolly man in a red suit with eight tiny reindeer.
Christmas is not an occasion or a party or a festival. It is not a piece of history or time off work or a gathering with family.
All of these things are connected to Christmas, but fundamentally, Christmas is not an event.
Christmas is a choice.
Christmas is a choice that we make every year, and that we must make over and over again every day of the year.
Choice and lack of choice place us in one of two positions: one of vulnerability and one of power and control.
When we don’t have a choice about something, we are vulnerable to that circumstance. We can’t defend ourselves from that reality.
That situation acts upon us and we simply have to make the best of it.
It’s not a very fun place to be sometimes.
When we have a choice about our situation, we have power and control.
We can influence our surroundings and how they affect us.
So you’ll be glad to hear that Christmas is a choice that we have, that we can make.
Christmas cannot simply happen to us without our consent.
We have to say yes to a very specific decision, which I will explain in a bit. But again, first let’s talk about lack of choices and the vulnerable position that creates. Continue reading