Wouldn’t life be grand if only it could be Christmas every day? Well, not only could it be, but it is, to all those who want it to be so! How is this possible, you ask? Once you accept that Christmas Day is merely a calendar date selected to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, there is no reason why you are unable to select any day of the annual calendar or indeed every day of the year to celebrate Christ’s birth.
For you historians, Christmas Day has been celebrated on the 25th of December for the past 1,682 years. The first recorded date of Christmas being celebrated on December 25th was in 336 AD, during the time of the Roman Emperor, Constantine the Great (the first Christian Roman Emperor). A few years later, Pope Julius the 1st officially declared also that the birth of Jesus would be celebrated on December 25th each year.
Christmas is that time of year when ‘Good will to all men!’ is shouted in the streets across the land and cold hearts throughout the year become amenable towards the warmth generated by others with whom they come into contact; melting their traditionally hardened and bitter responses into words of softer and sweeter reply. We become more neighbourly, more caring towards those who would normally not be within our embrace of concern, and for some of better cheer than usual, a smile becomes visible as it creeps along the cracks in their hardened faces. In short, the beast in us becomes more human in its observance of the sensibilities of others and more feeling in its touch.
Christians have long known, even before the time of the Roman Emperor, Constantine the Great, or Pope Julius the 1st that Christ is ever-present in all form and matter, and whether we choose to have Him in our lives and our hearts is all down to the free will that God gave to mankind. This free will is the most distinctive feature that separates man from beast and how it is chosen to be exercised between one individual and another determines the very character and nature of the person we become.
Not only is it within our power to determine the nature of the person we are, but if we seize that conceptual crown, we can make every day we live ‘Christmas Day’, simply by making it a day of Christ’s celebration in our minds and in our hearts. Each good thought we have, each warm feeling we generate towards others, each non-critical and non-judgemental word we speak, every kind act we engage in and the wholesome lifestyle we display in both private and public is the part of Jesus Christ he gave to us in his life and on his cross. Every time we celebrate life itself through the wholesome lifestyle we choose to live, we celebrate the life of Jesus Christ.; we celebrate Christmas Day, yesterday, today, tomorrow and every day. A merry Christmas to all.
Love and peace. Bill xxx