I Am the Christmas Spirit

I enter the home of poverty,
causing pale-faced children to open their
eyes wide in pleased wonder.

I cause the miser’s clutched hand to relax,
and thus paint a bright spot on his soul.

I cause the aged to renew their youth
and to laugh in the glad old way.

I keep romance alive in the heart of childhood,
and brighten sleep with dreams woven of magic.

I cause eager feet to climb dark stairways
with filled baskets, leaving behind hearts
amazed at the goodness of the world.

I cause the prodigal to pause a moment on his wild,
wasteful way, and send to anxious loved ones some little token
that releases glad tears - tears which wash away the hard lines of sorrow.

I enter dark prison cells,
reminding scarred manhood of what might have been,
and pointing forward to good days yet to come.

I come softly into the still, white home of pain,
and lips that are too weak to speak
just tremble in silent, eloquent gratitude.

In a thousand ways I cause the weary world to look up into the face of God
and for a little moment forget the things that are small and wretched.

I am the Christmas Spirit.
~ Anonymous

Failure to Find Cheese

Failure, utter and complete, has been the incredible picture my life has painted over the course of the past few years. You’d think I was saying this to garner sympathy or at the very least comment. I’m not. It is just a little realization that came to me in my sleep. And, like my Grandmother used to say, “I’m not complaining, just explaining.”

A few years ago, I owned my house and had a pretty decent job. The family was pretty happy living out in the Midwest. Things were good. I enjoy shoveling snow during the winter and mowing the lawn during the summer. I enjoy the extreme cold and wet heat but nothing beats the wonderful spring and fall days of pure comfort, breathing in some of the cleanest air to be found. Life was grand. I guess I took it for granted.

Have you ever read the book Who Moved My Cheese? Well, my cheese has been totally decimated, leaving me with nothing nearly as comfortable as what I had back then. In an attempt to gain some grasp on that wonderful pile of cheese, I moved first to Chicago then to Los Angeles. It seemed for a season I had what I sought. The cheese supply has not been enough, though. I need to find another source of that commodity.

It’s nearing a year since I last worked at a normal job. My prospects are almost all dried up dust in the perpetually blowing wind. I’ve wandered through this maze of life, having no luck with a new source of cheese.

My wife suggests I need to embrace what life has offered. I don’t like it. Although I used to consider myself a cheese lover, it seems my taste for cheese is quite limited. I’ve got to figure how to force my cheese-desires to expand. The question is how.

Why Xmas instead of Christmas?

I’ve heard people complain about the replacement of Christ with X in Christmas. There are many who misunderstand the origins of this practice, thinking it is an attempt to remove Christ from the center of the holiday. Of course, many seem to think the holiday itself was from its inception centered around Christ but that’s another story all-together.

I wonder how many people remember the historical account of the Emperor Constantine and how he decided to embrace Christianity. It goes something along the lines of this. You see the Emperor had this vision of sorts. It was probably not unlike anything many others have had but we tend to shy away from calling these things visions for fear of seeming insane. I wonder how many of the Emperor’s contemporaries thought he had lost a couple of those bricks making his load a bit incomplete. In any case, in this vision Mr. Constantine saw the Greek letters Chi and Rho intertwined.

The Greek Chi is written a bit like we write X whereas the Greek letter Rho looks like our P. Chi and Rho are the first two letters of the Greek word Christ, which means savior. XP is sometimes used to stand for Christ. Sometimes, X is used alone to mean Christ. This is the case where Chi replaces Christ in Christmas.

We English speakers and readers see X and don’t associate that with Chi. We read X-mas and have problems seeing the connection with Christ. Some Christians then mistakenly believe it is an effort to secularize the holiday.

Happy Xmas everyone!