I enjoyed Christmas as a child and now enjoy it in my fifties, the youth of old age. I am thankful for a good childhood, given to me by a healthy community, that made this possible. Growing up has been hard to do . . . especially in a way compatible with Christmas.
Growing up is hard to do in a culture of immediacy. We are constantly reminded of now. Our ethics, choices, and attitude are personalized . . . at least as far as our consumer culture can allow. What will come of our choices, we do not know. President Obama may be sure that what we are doing now will turn out well, but many of us have some doubts.
Oddly, Facebook may help us. Lately my social media feed has reminded me of what I did years ago and for good and bad I can see how choices I made then are impacting me today. Facebook is a reality reminder: the past has helped shape my present.
Humans are creatures of time and what we have done or has been done to us in the past is part of what we become. Most Americans no longer work in agriculture so when we hear “we reap what we sow,” we forget that sowing and reaping are months apart. In the same way, the good or evil we do may have an immediate impact or it may take months or years to develop.
When we begin a good habit, we sow good seed, but the harvest may take a very long time to come. In the same way, I have spent years watching college students (including myself!) squander what parents have sown into our lives, because the results take time. When I refused to wear knee pads traveling with a dance team to avoid spoiling the costume, I did not have my fifty-two year old knees. My fifty-two year old self is sorry about the choices my nineteen year old self made, but it is too late to change those choices.
Even worse is that we may like what we have become, even if years ago it would have appalled us. We are now incapable of the feelings we once had. Christmas may be one the last reminders of this fact. External harm can make it hard to love Christmas, but so can internal harm we do to ourselves.
Can a man who consumes hundreds of hours of pornography see people the same way? Or does moral decay make a season of innocence irritating?
Can an employer who treats coworkers like objects for years love a season of giving? Or does cynicism corrode the joy of Christmas?
Can we glorify violence in our games, entertainment, and politics and understand “peace, goodwill to men?” Or does all the harmony make us cranky?
Will hundreds of hours of consuming profanity laden, harsh, and ugly media make us able to tolerate sweetness? Or do we begin to confuse the childlike with childishness?
I wonder. There is a great culture worry that we are not “growing up” and are prolonging adolescence. I see a greater danger that we are destroying childhood, trampling on adolescence, and creating jaded souls. We don’t grow up, we merely grow old having reaped the harvest of a refusal to obey the laws of nature and of nature’s God.
Christmas can be commercialized, personalized, and mocked, but Christmas goes on coming every year. Jesus is born and is glorified in His great act of sacrifice. He came. He is here. He is coming again. We cannot control these facts, sell them, or make them fit our tastes. Jesus was born and a great good came into human history that still is bearing fruit.
We see Jesus where there is innocence.
We see Jesus where there is justice.
We see Jesus where there is peace.
We see Jesus where there is beauty.
Jesus will keep brining innocence, justice, peace, and beauty until all the world is full of them. I look back over my past year of writing and hope that I have sown seeds of all those good things. I hope I am pure, just, peaceful, and kind. I hope I am becoming fit for a grownup Christmas where I can come as a child so I can be a man by submitting my will to what is good. I want to grow up to love Christmas better, not merely grow old, cynical, and tired.
God, help us, every one.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In