As Christmas with its unique atmosphere fades in to the all too familiar reality of our everyday lives, I would like to look back to this period and share a couple of valuable lessons I have learnt.
Christmas involves so many things, certainly sacrificial giving as shown by my bank balance, family get-together s combined with great festive food and also the opportunity to relax and clear my mind from previously stored up pressures!
Tradition also plays a great part, I love watching certain films 
such as the Snowman, the cartoon version of Dicken’s Christmas Carol featuring Scrooge and finally the classic, It’s a Wonderful Life.
As we are all aware, this period can so easily be summed up in one word, pressure, to get everything completed in time for the big day , decorations to go up! Christmas cards to be delivered and presents bought and that’s before the catering and actual cooking! So much to be done and so little time to do it in! The season passes so quickly that you wonder if you dreamt it all!
Christmas, despite all of its man-made extras should represent the birth of Christ who came to offer all of us a new relationship with God . Certainly the Lord held nothing back, through His incredible, once and for all sacrificial gift. In short, we received the Lord’s best in Jesus who came to take us up to a higher level.
Whilst watching one of my favourite films however, I began to wonder, am I missing something ……?
During the evocative Christmas Carol story portraying the “trial” of Scrooge who turns from miser to generous human being, I began to wonder if I was suffering from a similar miserly attitude to life, with Scrooge, it was all about money, for me it concerned relationships.
The story of Scrooge clearly shows how money had gradually become the dominating objective of his life which excluded all else, including the desperate needs of many around him.
Through his night of confrontation as he faced the consequences of his actions , he dramatically sees the error of his ways. To the utter amazement of all, he freely and generously distributes his savings with a joy to behold.
As I watched the story unfold I realised that I also needed to change in a variety of ways with people, as he did with his money. I had held back the gifts I had been given which should have been used for the benefit of others, thereby glorifying the Lord.
Golden opportunities to provide encouragement, giving a word, or simply just taking an interest in their everyday lives had been missed on occasions too numerous to mention. I was often afraid to step out and speak to somebody I didn’t know well or failing to say something that required an element of faith to accommodate my comfort zone as I played it safe. There would always be another opportunity I reasoned.
Just as Scrooge was transformed by his night of trial, I needed to be equally transformed and stop being the proverbial wallflower by trusting the Lord and sharing freely what He had given me. I realised these golden opportunities are just like the snowman from the same name film, they soon melt away and the right opportunity may well not come again.
There was also a lesson to be learnt from It’s a Wonderful Life as well . The lead character, George Bailey, could have given in to the town tyrant who was only concerned with dominating all and obtaining riches beyond measure. He did this by refusing the enormous salary available if he joined forces with his Scrooge like adversary, preferring instead, to sacrifice his personal well being and comfort for the considerable benefit of those around him.
Christmas for most of us is a great family time, but now I want to change focus by concentrating and taking inspiration from the most generous and sacrificial gift of all.
Accordingly, will I sincerely respond in the same way and share myself equally sacrificially, without hesitation or holding back?
Do remember,You Matter! In fact, you matter so much that Jesus willingly went through ALL that was asked of Him during His earthly ministry. Acclaimed and then betrayed, mobbed and then deserted, healer and then beaten to becoming an unrecognisable human being. If Jesus can go through all this, and much much more, for you and I, thereby enabling us to have the best relationship that God can offer, then shouldn’t all of us remember our relationships with others and share the individual gifts we have been given, without hesitation?
All blessings to you for today and 2017
Tony