By the time you read this column Christmas Day 2023 will have passed and the New Year will be upon us. I’ve seen many Christmases come and go in my time. And I must confess I’ve enjoyed them all. But it seems, with the passing of each year, I have to expend more energy and effort to ensure my Christmas experience is one of “good tidings and great joy.”
The good tidings are a given, but sustaining great joy throughout the Holidays takes some work. It seems there are mounting forces bent on “taking the wind out of your sails.”
In his marvelous book titled A Reason to Live, A Reason to Die, John Powel wrote in 1974, “The pulse and rhythm of human life has quickened so suddenly that all those who want to keep up must run.” And run we did! And we are still running…only faster - schedules to keep, deadlines to meet.
Charles E. Hummel wrote of “The Tyranny of the Urgent” when quoting a cotton mill manager who told him, “Your greatest danger is letting the urgent things crowd out the important.” We seem to be driven by what seems urgent at the expense of focusing on that which is truly meaningful. It is a constant battle.
The phrase “speed kills” has multiple applications. As I observe the lives of our children and grandchildren, I perceive the concept of “quiet time” is only a “pipe dream” for them – not a moment for reflection.
And then there are “things.” You’ve heard it said, “The best things in life are not things.” John Fort Newton wrote, “In this materialistic world, if we are not careful, we will be domesticated right out of eternity.”
Someone else once said, “Trying to satisfy the longings of the human soul with things, is like trying to comfort a motherless child with a beautiful doll. Temporarily, the child might be distracted, but in the night, you can hear her crying for her mother.”
We make a great effort to accumulate things. We surround ourselves with things. “Keeping up with the Joneses” is a powerful, driving force. I’ve often wondered who the Joneses are trying to keep up with.
And then, there is our world. Christmas 2023 happened under the dark clouds of fighting in Israel and Gaza. And the war goes on in Ukraine. And some lives were forever changed by tornadoes and other tragedies here at home. With all the good going on in our world, there is still a lot of bad. It is incredibly easy to take your eyes off the Prize.
And then, too, there are people. I learned, after many years on the professional speaking circuit, that there are in this world, some people who were never meant to laugh. Maybe God made them that way. Or maybe, they decided to be that way. I’m not sure. But they are that way. And many of them don’t particularly enjoy Christmas. And that’s ok, if it stopped with them. But it seems they are determined to spoil Christmas for everybody who surrounds them. I’m not sure they are aware of how they siphon energy from others, but they do.
So here we are. I hope you made the necessary effort to enjoy, as the Beatles sang “a wonderful Christmas time.”
2024 looms ahead. It has all the potential of being your best year, yet. May you make it so.
Remember. The best is yet to come!
Copyright 2023 by Jack McCall
