Merry Christmas Rant with Love

It’s Christmas and I celebrate it. My friends and family celebrates, each one a little differently than the other. Yet, everyone gets the idea.

I find it interesting that people find the most interesting ways to divide themselves from other people when it would make more sense to allow us all just “to be” and bless those who don’t see things the way you do.

Granted, some people don’t believe in, celebrate, or condone the idea of Christmas… and who cares? I celebrate your right to believe anything you want.

Second, only to New Years, Christmas is the most celebrated holiday in the world. And thankfully, this “religious” holiday has become so watered down that anyone can celebrate it. Even though it was originally a Christian holiday to celebrate the birth of Jesus, now it represents the advancement of love and peace among all peoples. An idea of which Jesus could be proud of having been promoted by His birthday.

While the majority of us find it easy to wrap our heads around this idea of Jesus’ birthday being a joyous, love-filled celebration of life and the bright future which awaits us all as we unite in harmony for a better world, some hardcore Christians have a problem with non-cardholding-members joining in their holiday celebration.

Now, here’s where it gets a little dicey. Even among Christians (because there’s so many division amongst them), they can’t agree on a way to celebrate Christmas as a whole. Many Christian factions are divided on their celebration of the Christmas holiday, and some refuse to participate at all due to it’s commercialism, or basis in paganism.

Christmas, the whole idea of it represents an evolutionary approach to advancing harmony among all peoples, spreading love and peace. December 25th was originally a Roman holiday to celebrate the birth of the sun, later the Catholic Church (Pope Julius I) adopted this day to celebrate the birth of Jesus, “The Son of God.”

As Christianity expanded across the globe and spread to all nations, unique characteristics were gathered along the way and included into the celebration of Christmas. Christmas evolved to invite anyone and everyone to be honored and to celebrate the December 25th holiday in their own way.

Yes, dragging a tree into the house to mark winter’s halfway point was a pagan tradition, and this idea evolved into the decorated Christmas tree which sets some staunch Christians ablaze with anti-paganism fury. Nonetheless, there is nothing new under the sun, and we all adopt ideas from the past and repurpose them into modern ideologies.

Now, you can fight for the idea of pure thought, uninfluenced by any preconceived thought (which is an exciting thought in itself, I’ll admit) and stand strong, like a marker carved in stone, unmovable, unchanging, in honor of ancient ideals or philosophies, dedicated to preserve the past and defend it, even if it means disrespecting, debating with, or killing anyone who dares to not align themselves with your belief(s).

If that’s you, don’t go reaching for your sniper rifle or loading your vehicle with bombs and think about tracking me down just yet, please hear me out…

Let’s say you believe the way you do, and I believe the way I do and let’s assume there are some differences, no matter what thought systems we’re talking about, religious or otherwise.

And let’s think about how you might like to have people think like you do. Heck, I might even like people to think the way I do. Now, we could kill all the people who don’t believe the way we do, then we win. But I think that we can agree that we’ve seen this approach in the past (or even recently) and can rationalize that this is not really a sustainable model.

On the other hand, we can lovingly turn our efforts into including as many people as possible to play in our game in their own way to make the world a better place, where we all can live in harmony, promoting love and peace.

On one hand, we have “separation” which promotes fear and death and is not sustainable. On the other hand, inclusion, which promotes love which is the energy which gives life, new life, expanding life.

All that to say, “I love Jesus,” and am proud to call myself a Christian but I would never impose my belief upon another person. I love the idea that the world is made of different people all with different ideas and contributions to make and gift to the world. Far be it from me to even entertain the thought for a moment, that I might not be able to learn something from someone else, anyone else.

Jesus is my greatest hero, and I have other heroes besides, and none of us has the right to dictate to another person whom we regard as our heroes. Regardless, even if I was not a Christian, I think I would celebrate Christmas because of the idea of Christmas, as it is celebrated among society en masse, is a microcosm of evolving and expanding life on planet earth.

I get excited about the very thought of Christmas, how it makes people who embrace the holiday feel special, full of love, and desire to do good things for family, friends, other people, and the world at large. A fantasy? Maybe, but what a thing to aspire to; peace on earth and goodwill to all men. That is a dream, that I believe, can one day come true.

You can join me in celebration of that on December 25th, and/or every day, for that matter.

And if you’re among those who are finding the holidays a struggle, when it seems so very hard, and it appears that there is no love for you; there is.

There is great love for you, now, and even more on the way.

Unfortunately, this is the time of year when many people are feeling lost, lonely, at their very worst, and my thoughts and heart are with you. In fact, my friends and I are sending love to you, right now. You might even consider helping us in sending love to the world while getting a little more for yourself in the process, with no strings attached.

If you search inside yourself, you can find the love within you, we are sending you more. We know you can make it, and you have great things to do ahead.

A better life awaits you, your best life, and we need you to help make the world a better place.