Article December 21, 1992 Issue

Finding a deeper meaning to Christmas

Beholding others as loved children of God can bring the healing touch of Christ to people's lives—at the very time it may be most needed.

Thomas Richard Mitchinson

As a child I loved Christmas—giving and receiving gifts, singing carols, and delighting in the joy of the whole season. But one Christmas I learned a great lesson that helped me understand a deeper meaning of this special time.

I was in high school, delivering flowers part time for a local florist. When no one was home at a recipient's house, I would leave the fragile flowers with a neighbor because of the cold and snow. To my surprise, there were sometimes emotional reactions from the neighbors when they realized the flowers were not for them. A wave of sadness seemed to come over some of them; others seemed a little upset for a moment. I could see how a materialistic sense of the holiday had worn down people's emotions. This had an impact on my youthful joy about the season. If this holiday giving causes unhappiness, is it worth it? I wondered.

I needed a deeper sense of Christmas, and after much prayer, this is what I realized: the celebration of Christmas should not be defined by gifts but by a rejoicing in the power and ever-presence of Christ, Truth, which Jesus lived so fully. The vital message of Christ is that man is the child of God and that our true selfhood is therefore spiritual and complete. This truth was the basis for Jesus' healing work, and, as Christian Science shows us, it is this same truth, understood, that today dissolves the clouds that would obscure man's God-given health and happiness.

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