The day after Christmas for me, which was by that time merely a winding down of festivities on Christmas Day in the States, my friend Carrie and I were chatting online about love. I asked her what Jesus meant by the love He wanted to give us. She mentioned we as Christians can only love through His strength. Human love, she said, is always conditional, whether we believe it or realize it. "What you said about conditions makes me think of Christmas through the world's eyes," I replied. "It's only fun because you get stuff. I was a bit disappointed that I didn't have anything to open on Christmas morning, but stripped of presents, Christmas becomes something more than just material gain."
For believers, we must constantly check where our love is coming from. In some ways, I feel like the love felt on Christmas morning is conditional. I didn't get much for Christmas this year, just a small bag of goodies and five tubes of toothpaste. Am I mad that my Christmas was, through the world's eyes at least, a "bust"? To be honest, that's hard to say--or perhaps harder to admit. It was disappointing Christmas Eve, to be sure, when I went downstairs to check for any packages and my landlord shook his head. It was disappointing, too, not to have anything to open Christmas Morning. Having Christmas in another country strips away presents, lights, and anything else that's familiar about the holiday. What, then, does it become? Though I am still trying to process it, for me it was another day of rest and worship.
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