Christmas – A Time for Peace and Good Will
Posted on December 19, 2011
Deck the halls with boughs of holly
It’s the season to be jolly
And be thankful for all that we have
All the lights and decorations
Put up in the anticipation
Of the joyful celebration
That’s on its way
We’re counting the days
‘Til it’s time for Christmas day
Oh and God bless us everyone
The good and the bad
The happy; the sad
Oh and God bless us everyone
Here’s to family and friends
It’s good to be here again…
The above lyrics from Celine Dion’s song pretty much sum up the reasons why we enjoy Christmas – a ‘season to be jolly’ to ‘be thankful’, and most of all to be with ‘family and friends’ again. For Christians around the globe it marks the happy day of good tidings – the news that God has sent a Savior for mankind and most important for ‘God to bless’ all – ‘the good and the bad’ – ‘it’s good to be here again’!
At this time of the year, four and five year old children across the world will be re-enacting one of the most famous stories of all time in their school halls – the story of The Nativity – the birth of Jesus. Adoring parents will watch their tiny tots dress up as Mary holding baby Jesus (usually a doll wrapped in a blanket!), Joseph and the three Kings, all set within a simple backdrop of a stable filled with bales of hay.
Although the season has become commercial over the years, millions of people Christian and otherwise celebrate the festival of peace and good will in many ways. For many it has become a season of meeting, eating and gift giving. A time to show love and generosity and feel a sense of community and togetherness. Sadly much of the real significance has been lost in today’s commercial world?
As with all Celebrations, Christmas carries a deep spiritual significance, for the story seems very relevant for the seemingly dark times we are passing through now, and the birth is a metaphor for the awakening of our inner truth.
Baby Jesus was born in the dark night bringing a ray of light into the world. The evil, the corruption, the anger, violence – are these all not traits of the dark night of the soul? He was born in a manger, surrounded by animals – in the same way our awakening takes place amidst a world that increasingly expresses animal-like behaviour.
It’s time now for our inner child – the purity of spirit, our original divine nature, our inner truth, to overcome the darkness. In the world we are starting to see evidence of this – the revolutions rippling around the Middle East and the Occupy Movements of the West are all saying NO to greed and corruption and other vices that holds the world within its clutches. It’s time now for honesty and justice.
The story tells us that the Angel, a messenger of God, came to give the good tidings (of the birth) to the shepherds tending their flocks in the fields. Who is the Angel, the shepherds and who are the flock of sheep? The world is made up of leaders and followers – choose which one you want to be. Leaders of today are leading the folk astray – we want a new spiritual leadership – Angels. These Messengers of God, show the way of the truth, just as the star in the sky, much like a compass, led the three kings to the Light. We need to hold onto the light of truth and show the way of peace and love to others – everything else will fail us.
The three kings, wise men from The East, arrived bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh – rich and priceless commodities at the time. Could we also be those wise (wo)men? For we have travelled a long way following our compass (conscience) of truth. Our priceless ‘gifts’ are already within us! Peace, Love and Purity are the treasures that we all carry at all times to share with others. We will ‘realise’ them when we follow the Star of Truth. In the same way that the wise men bowed down before the baby Jesus, we also need humility at this time to realize our inner treasures which are our true greatness, our innate God-given gifts – this respect for the self is our true royalty.
As with all good stories, there has to be a villain to make the drama all the more entertaining! In this case it was King Herod. Worried that Jesus might compete for his throne (EGO playing out) he tried to kill baby Jesus so that there would be no threat to his position. Hence he sent the three kings, known a Magi to find the newborn and report him to the King ‘so that he too would pay homage to him’. But both Joseph and the Magi had visions of Herod’s impure intentions and Joseph fled the family to safety.
As we too embark on the journey of truth, we have to be aware of our inner ‘Herod’ – demons of jealousy and envy, carelessness, laziness and other subtle vices that may kill our inner child – preventing us from moving forward. By following our inner, God-given truth we can stay safe… much as the baby Jesus escaped from Herod’s clutches.
In the Charles Dickens 1843 novel, ‘A Christmas Carol’, Ebenezer Scrooge was a cold hearted, miserly man who despised Christmas and all things that gave people happiness. Even his last name has come into the English language as a byword for miserliness and misanthropy.
However, even Scrooge saw the light of truth when he was shown by a ghost the consequences of his actions. He was also shown a vision of a better world, a world where people lived with love, respect and honesty, and therefore happiness was a way of life. Perhaps it’s time for such a world to emerge once again.
But we need not wait for a vision or a calling. Surely the way of the Light is the need of the hour. With so much sorrow in the world, let us be the Christmas sparkle of happiness!
It’s time… to nurture the light within, to let it shine brightly and for each of us to play our part of bringing light to the world. Follow your truth and become the Angel – messenger of truth – finishing off ‘Herod’ and all his progeny of evils. If Scrooge could change, why can’t we!?
Share these thoughts! ‘It’s Time…’ is spreading far and wide! Feel free to forward this wisdom, but to avoid any karmic rebound, please acknowledge its source – ‘It’s Time…’ by Aruna Ladva, BK Publications London
I came, I read this article, I coreuqned.
Gert
Thank you for this post …merry Christmas!!!