The Reason for the Season

Christmas can be a very stressful time of year for many of us, but what many of you will fail to realize, much of this stress can be avoided all together by following a few simple steps. We need to remember the "Reason for the Season" is not buying everyone we know the perfect gift or planning the perfect Holiday party or meal. This is the time of year for fellowship with our loved ones and extended families to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Supposedly a time of great joy, yet distorted by commercialism as only we know how to do.

As with many great ideas down through the centuries, businesses have taken advantage of "The Season of Giving" by leading everyone to believe the only way to give is through purchases to be presented to our loved ones as gifts. Commercialism's greatest distortion to help increase profits in the cold winter months when typically sales are in a slump because of weather and an overall slow economy. In times past, many seasonal businesses such as fresh produce, fish markets, logging & construction companies would close their doors in the winter months for lack of sales, or for the fact that these jobs just couldn't be performed in icy cold conditions.

Within the past 100 years the worlds economy has changed dramatically, allowing for year-round food and commodities productions to be exchanged on a world wide basis. We simply import produce from the southern hemisphere in the winter months that we are unable to produce here, and in turn, export any extra commodities we produce in the summer months to our friends to the south in their winter months. One hand washing the other so to speak, but in order to make these international markets work properly, the imported goods need to be sold at a profit. Christmas was the perfect solution to get people to spend money in the winter months to help keep the world economy lucrative and strong.

Anyone who has studied the Bible extensively will tell you December the 25th is not actually Christ's birth date, but rather His conception date. It is believed that Jesus was actually born between September 26th and September 30th . This also helps to explain why Churches in general are opposed to abortion. How can they condone the extraction of a fetus when their most sacred holiday is based on the conception date of Christ !?! In other words... We have been celebrating the conception of Christ as the beginning of His mortal life, and because the Church recognizes this, it would be contradictory for them not to recognize everyone's life beginning at conception.

If you really want to celebrate "The Reason For The Season", perhaps we should make our gift choices a little more appropriate. Perhaps a Bible says "Happy Birthday Jesus" a little better than a bicycle. Helping the homeless find shelter from the harsh weather may be a better choice than planning a "Holiday Vacation". Helping feed the hungry in your community may be a little more important than planning the "Perfect Holiday Feast".

My gift this year is a very simple and humble one... Trying to get people to realize that Christmas really is all about giving, but it's about giving of yourself to those less fortunate. Volunteer your time to helpful organizations in your community if that is all you have to offer, and help make a difference in the lives of those less fortunate than yourself. If you have any questions about what you should do to make the season and the world a better place to live in, all you really need to do is ask yourself this very simple question... "What would Jesus do?"