CHRISTMAS. WHAT A BEAUTIFUL, NOSTALGIC, ALL-JUMBLED-UP TIME of year. Memories flood in—sometimes of warmly colored childhood times with the whole family (or not so warmly colored!), or maybe that quiet time last year with only one friend. For me, one of my favorite Christmases, ironically enough, remains the only one I ever spent without my family. Just twenty-one and away from home for the first time, I had ventured forth to Sun Valley, Idaho, to spend the season as a ski bum. My job as the elevator girl in the lodge meant that I had to choose between Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve for my holiday night off. Well, no contest: Christmas Eve—so I could go to midnight Christmas services at the church I then attended. I so well remember walking home alone in the snow after that simple, candlelit celebration of the birth of Jesus. Leaving the small group of worshippers behind at the rustic log church, I wrapped up against the cold, breathing in the freezing crystal night, but nevertheless feeling warmed by the tenderness of the Nativity story and the promise of the Christmas message: "Peace, good will toward men."
This year, the Journal staff also felt the warmth of that same Christmas promise, not only of peace, goodwill to all, as the Bible says, but also the profoundly life-altering message of Christmas that Mary Baker Eddy called "the babe we are to cherish": Christian healing. As all of us think about the true meaning of Christmas, and as we turn to making our gift lists, we hope everyone will celebrate and share the greatest gift of all—the Christ, which lives in each heart, eternally, the divine influence in human consciousness that Jesus so faithfully and lovingly expressed in every moment of his ministry of healing.
As our feature this month "The Babe We Are To Cherish" shows irrefutably, this "babe"—Christian healing—continues to change lives for the better and brings "peace, good will" to the world. As Mary Baker Eddy's discovery of this scientific method of healing sin, sickness, and even death continues to bless all of humanity, we hope the proof of healing—the most precious gifts of this Christmas season—will bless each of you. And brings the true meaning of Christmas home to hearts everywhere. Happy Christmas!
