With the hustle and bustle all around me I was watching two worlds unfolding before my eyes. One, where people prepare for Christmas by making lists, rushing off to stores to buy gifts for people they love, and at times, even for those that they do not even care about. Gift giving, after all, became more of an obligation, expectancy, and a duty that must be fulfilled. If you do not buy gifts, for reasons other than simply not having money to do so, you are considered nearly insane… at least in this part of the world. While Demetrye and I were doing our bi-weekly grocery shopping a couple of days ago, we saw parking lots of stores and malls overflowing with cars, people impatiently, in a nearly dazed stupor, standing in lines stressed because they still had so much to do, and there was so little time to do it.

Then I observed another world. I felt that I was standing on the outside, trying to peek into it as if were looking through a small key-hole. Every morning, when I go to work, I park my car about a quarter of a mile from the building where I work. Walking to the building I cross over a bridge. Every morning, no matter how cold is has been this season, I see bundles of rags covered by raggedy blankets laying close to the wall of the underpass. There, under layers of rags, lay human beings, trying to find a bit of warmth, and some peace, as impossible as it seems. You will not find them rushing off to the nearby mall to buy the latest scream of fashion. At least I don’t think so. I believe that, as they lay there, all alone in the cold, they dream of a warm bed, a soothing meal, and welcoming hands to wipe away their tears of loneliness, and hold them close to their heart, whispering only one thing that can be meaningful to them: “I love you. You matter to me.”

As I walk over the bridge every morning, my heart breaks into a million small pieces. I feel guilty that I am unable to give our human brothers and sisters a better life. I feel pained that I cannot change their circumstances. All that is happening around me during this season outside of these emotions seems meaningless.

Our society is successfully removing the true meaning of Christmas little by little. We now hardly see “Merry Christmas!” signs anymore—they have been replaced with cold and generic “Happy Holidays” slogan. The truth of Christmas has been dusted over with “holiday” commercials that scream at us day and night, trying to convince us that we must buy the next best car, big screen television or a new automated toy. We are constantly interrupted by Beyonce’s glittering face with a happy jingle convincing us that “diamonds are a girl’s best friend”. Every time I hear the song I want to scream at the top of my lungs: “That’s a lie!!!” Diamonds cannot replace family and friends. They cannot warm you on a cold day, comfort you when you have been diagnosed with cancer, wipe your tears when your child is sick or your heart has been broken. They surely cannot pull you out of deep struggle with an addiction. So, why are we so focused on getting the next best thing? Why do we care to give gifts to people who already have everything that they need? Why do we expect that someone should go out of their way to spend money on us? Why?

The more I reflect on Christmas, the more I know that we have been fooled. We are playing charades if we think that things can make us happy. After all, if having things meant happiness, then the “celebrities” and the wealthiest of this world would be the happiest people, but they are not. Christmas was never about a “Christmas” tree, decorations, stockings, or Santa Clause. Don’t get me wrong, I believe that there is a place for lights and celebration, but CHRISTMAS HAS BEEN AND SHOULD ALWAYS BE ABOUT CHRIST!!! Christ came to give of Himself to the world. He came to give life, to renew our spirits, to bring back hope. He did not come to get anything from us, except for us: beaten, broken, dying, with all of our baggage, and in return He gave us all that He IS!

So, I ask you today, if you are reading my blog, to stop for a moment and think how you can better spend the money that you might have left over. Do you think that you, as Christ, can give away from yourself this season? Can you find a family in your community that is hurting and be Christ to them? Can you find a hungry person and feed him? Can you graciously forget about what you want, and remember how blessed you already are?

You might be wondering if I am only saying these things because they might make me sound good. I promise you that I do not. I am not bragging on myself when I tell you that Demetrye and I had made a resolution that this is exactly how we are going to spend our Christmases and our lives. We don’t need to spend money on each other—we are already taken care of. We don’t need lights or a tree to remind us that the greatest gift that we could have lives inside of us. Every Christmas, and in other seasons as well, we look for a family in need, and we try to help them experience at least a small portion of what we have. This Christmas we were blessed to give to a family in need, and tomorrow, early in the morning, we are going downtown to take food to the homeless brothers and sisters, and we pray to be at least a small ray of Christ’s love to them.

C. S. Lewis, in his book, Mere Christianity, said: “God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other. That is why it is just not good asking God to make us happy in our own way without bothering about Christianity. God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.”

May your Christmas be filled with the only thing that can sustain you—God. May you be surrounded with people who love you. May you have health, and prosper. May you have enough joy to make others happy. May you be Christ to those who need Him the most.

Merry Christmas!