IT'S NATURAL at Christmas for families and friends to get together, catch up on their activities over the past year, and renew their affection for one another. Christmas is a time of year that's often infused with love and unselfish care. It can bring happiness as rich as the smell of a newly cut Christmas tree. It also makes us mindful of those in need, and encourages us to respond both practically and spiritually. Responding with such care can help them awake to God's tender love for them.
Mary Baker Eddy, whose living of Christianity in its fullest sense, embodied a deep love for humanity, wrote at the beginning of this century: "At this happy season the veil of time springs aside at the touch of Love. We count our blessings and see whence they came and whither they tend. Parents call home their loved ones, the Yule-fires burn, the festive boards are spread, the gifts glow in the dark green branches of the Christmas-tree. But alas for the broken household band! God give to them more of His dear love that heals the wounded heart."The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, pp. 256-257.
Along with the various celebrations of Christmas comes the opportunity to think more deeply about the significance of Jesus' life and the message it holds for us today. Christ Jesus' birth and his healing ministry illustrated the coincidence of the human and the divine. His life revealed what occurs when we understand that our experience is embraced by divine Love: sickness and sin are healed; we prove that health and goodness are the reality of God's creation; we discover what it means to be at one with God. When we know that our life is "hid with Christ in God,"Col. 3:3. We feel the love of God and see His truth expressed around us. This spiritual vision sweeps away any shade of discord. Our prayer to know God better is answered, and that answer brings a new depth of loving to our hearts. It brings a more certain sense that God loves us. We gain higher views of ourselves and of our neighbor.
