Daily Motivator Special Feature

Remember Christmas?

When packages under the tree held real treasures,
presents with love, and thought, and personality in them,
and not just glossy plastic gift cards with a magnetic stripe and a specific dollar value?

When you could smile and say “Merry Christmas” without worrying about offending anyone or being viewed as a religious fanatic?

When you worked and sacrificed and saved to pay cash for a gift you’d had your eye on for months, and no one borrowed money against their home equity to pay for it all?

When you went to gatherings to enjoy the friends and family who were there, not merely to impress them or to fulfill an obligation?

When each shop had something different and homemade Christmas cookies really were homemade?

When you got something you didn’t really want
but you treasured it so much anyway,
all because of who gave it to you?

When the cards in your mailbox had simple greetings of peace and joy
instead of elaborate family résumés?

When children in school would sing about baby Jesus in a manger
and no one hurried downtown to file a lawsuit?

Remember Christmas
when it was filled with real magic
and miracles?

When people didn’t rush back to the stores
on December 26^th to exchange everything they had received?

When a single bright star
in the clear, cold night sky
filled you with a sense
of God’s pure and endless grace?

And even though you weren’t
the most religious person in the world,
and maybe you even skipped church more than you went,
or perhaps you didn’t even go at all…

Even so, at Christmas, somehow,
in a way you could not explain
and yet did not want to miss out on,
you truly felt a part of something bigger than yourself.

You felt connected to those around you,
to life, to creation and the Creator.

Remember Christmas,
when you heard the story
of that first Christmas so long ago and so far away,
and it seemed so near and so present
and so meaningful in your own life?

And though you wondered whether or not
all the details were entirely factual, that didn’t really matter,
because you knew, in the deepest part of your heart,
without the slightest consideration of doubt,
that it was unquestionably true.

The Christmas you most fondly remember was real.

It still is,
and will always be.

Would you like to feel it’s miraculous power again?

The fact is, if you’ve made it this far,
you’re already feeling it right this moment.

So in the true spirit of Christmas,
spread it to others.

For Christmas does not have to be watered down
into a meaningless “holiday season,”
because it lives in your heart.

And what you do with it
is what really matters.

So build a great big roaring fire in the fireplace.

Start with a sack of flour and figure out how to make some cookies out of it.

Smile and say “Merry Christmas” and don’t worry about what anyone may think.

Take delight in finding new ways to be generous and kind.

Look up at the night sky and find that star.
It’s still shining bright, even to this day.

Give away gifts that come from your heart.

And take some time to lovingly think
of the awesome, immeasurable gift of life,
a gift renewed in every moment,
transcending all boundaries
and existing beyond time itself.

Remember the magic of Christmas?

It’s here. It’s now. It’s alive in you.
And what a joy it is.

Have a Blessed, Merry Christmas
And let the living light shine brightly in you always.

-- Ralph Marston

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