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I thought long & hard about what I should get for my Lord this Christmas. Somehow this thought kept me up for a few hours recently. I thought about how I should make this Christmas different from my previous years.
a)should I donate to the poor, the one busking/begging on the streets?
b)Or reach out to those who have strayed away or become inactive Catholics?
c)Perhaps I can share my faith with a non-Catholic this Christmas & get someone to join RCIA/RCIY?
The list goes on about the many possibilities. It’s almost like counting sheep. Only thing is that this kept me wide awake rather than help me fall asleep! And then, a soft prompting suddenly came upon me about the origin & purpose of Christmas. The focus is not so much about the Lord, as it is about ME.
I am the purpose why He’s even here in the first place. I am the reason for his birth, his life, death & resurrection. His birth is but only a reminder of what He has started & is continuing to do in my life. Everything about God is first & foremost about ME.
What resulted next is this sudden appreciation (no pun intended) of myself & of my worth in the eyes of God. I felt loved & precious. Even though there’s much focus on the spiritual prep of oneself (in this period of Advent) on the coming of Christ, but I think I need to focus first & foremost on that fundamental motive – that i'm loved, not forgotten.
a)should I donate to the poor, the one busking/begging on the streets?
b)Or reach out to those who have strayed away or become inactive Catholics?
c)Perhaps I can share my faith with a non-Catholic this Christmas & get someone to join RCIA/RCIY?
The list goes on about the many possibilities. It’s almost like counting sheep. Only thing is that this kept me wide awake rather than help me fall asleep! And then, a soft prompting suddenly came upon me about the origin & purpose of Christmas. The focus is not so much about the Lord, as it is about ME.
I am the purpose why He’s even here in the first place. I am the reason for his birth, his life, death & resurrection. His birth is but only a reminder of what He has started & is continuing to do in my life. Everything about God is first & foremost about ME.
What resulted next is this sudden appreciation (no pun intended) of myself & of my worth in the eyes of God. I felt loved & precious. Even though there’s much focus on the spiritual prep of oneself (in this period of Advent) on the coming of Christ, but I think I need to focus first & foremost on that fundamental motive – that i'm loved, not forgotten.
Yes, I have heard it preached so many times. But there’s no other way to package this Christmas gift. It’s as simple & truthful as it can get. Nothing fanciful. Some 2000 yrs ago, as the world is in slumber, a miracle happened in the ordinariness of the night. This year, I plan to sit by my balcony on Christmas night, sipping my cup of hot chocolate and reflecting on this taken-for-granted & yet miraculous truth. Perhaps I need to strip away the din of the merry-making + all the packaging and to focus on the ordinariness and unnoticed CHRISTMAS GIFT that has been with me all this while. Maybe then, I will be able to hear the affirming voice that once said:
Since I regard you as precious, since you are honoured and I love you, I therefore give people (including Jesus) in exchange for you, and nations in return for your life.” ~ Isaiah 43:4
Oh…and my gift for the King? I guess, nothing delights the giver more than a deep appreciation from the recipient. There is nothing that my small little gift could come close to this tremendous treasure that He has given. Yes, the focus has shifted from my gift to THE GIFT that Christ has given me.
Since I regard you as precious, since you are honoured and I love you, I therefore give people (including Jesus) in exchange for you, and nations in return for your life.” ~ Isaiah 43:4
Oh…and my gift for the King? I guess, nothing delights the giver more than a deep appreciation from the recipient. There is nothing that my small little gift could come close to this tremendous treasure that He has given. Yes, the focus has shifted from my gift to THE GIFT that Christ has given me.
I could only bow down & pay my homage in this "silent night" to come. “Thank you, Lord for coming down to me. May our encounter enable me & the magi, to take a different route home. May we be, never the same again."
"What can we give that You have not given
What do we have that is not already Yours
All we possess are these lives we're living
And that's what we give to You Lord"
~ Bridge, from the song "I Offer My Life"
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