Spiritual Solutions

           May this Christmas find you blessed
            In many different ways.
      May your stocking be filled with goodies
          And may joy fill up your days.
        May your heart and home overflow
           With the beauty that abounds
      And may these gifts all be reflections
           Of the inner gifts you found.
      May your heart be as pure as Mary’s
          And your soul magnify the Lord
       May your mind be as open as Joseph’s
         That you too can heed God’s word.
       May you be as vigilant as the shepherds,
           And may you hear the angels call
          May all of your gifts honor Christ
      And may they be blessings for one and all.
        May you, in the manger of your heart
           Make room this Christmas morn.
            For unto you this very day
            God’s sacred child is born.
             It is a sign from heaven
            God loves you, this is clear.
         May this gift bless your Christmas
          And uplift your whole New Year.

(This blessing was sent to all the Unity ministers of the Southeast Region of the Association of Unity Churches by Rev. Bob Fortner, president of the region, and now comes to you courtesy of Rev. Alan Rowbotham, of Spiritual Solutions.)

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I was thinking about Advent and I remembered when I was in the British Navy many, many years ago – I won’t tell you how many right now – one of the most precious times especially when we were on board ship and we’d been away at sea for quite a few weeks and we were in a port, we’d be waiting for the mail call. And whenever that mail call came, we’d rush to that certain place with a sense of anticipation and expectancy we’d be looking for mail from home. How exciting that was!

I thought about that in relation to this season we’re in, this season of Advent, because the season of Advent is a time of waiting, a time of expectancy, a time of anticipation of something wonderful coming into our lives.

Advent is a time of preparation, of fasting, preparation and prayer for the celebration that is to come of Christmas, the birth of the Christ and all of what that means to us. Advent itself means “coming” and that’s why I set my title as “Coming into the World.”

So we ask ourselves in this season, “What is it that is coming into the world right now?” We can make it even more personal and ask, “What is it that is coming into the world in and through me at this time?”

The Gospel of John gives us an answer to the question. In John 1:9 it says, “The true light that enlightens every man (and woman) was coming into the world.” That’s what is coming into the world, the true light. And the true light is the true idea of the image of God in you, the perfect expression of your own divine self. The true light is the divine incarnation itself coming into the world through you.

The scripture goes on to say about the true light, “He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not. He came to his own home, and his own people received him not. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God; who were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”

You see, that light of our divine selfhood responds to our acceptance and it reveals its full potential in our lives to the one who has the courage and the audacity to believe in it. That divine incarnation seeks to come into the world through each one of us.

Meister Eckhart, the 14th century mystic and theologian said this: “We are each meant to be mothers of God.”

And we read on: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.” And that particular line, of course, relates to the one who came and expressed the fullness of that divine potential, that divine incarnation in our world, the one we have come to know as Jesus the Christ. His expression of the divine incarnation is symbolic of that within us also, to which we have the privilege of giving birth. Each one of us has that image of God within us, and we have the privilege of giving birth to it.

Author Sue Monk Kidd tells of a time when she had not really been true to herself in the work that she was doing, and in seeking her true self she decided to go to a retreat center among the live oaks in the low country of South Carolina, a place called Springbank. She said that as she walked through the front door there, pinned up on the wall, was a picture of a pregnant Madonna. Under the picture were printed these words: “This image represents each person who is trying to birth the real self, the image of God that is taking shape within. For that conception to move to its fullness, we all need time to be quiet, to be reflective, and to be centered in our deep places.”

So I encourage you at this season to take time. So often we get caught up in the hurry and bustle of the season, of preparations, and we forget to take time for ourselves and reflect upon the meaning behind it all. And the meaning behind the story of Christmas is your story, the story of the divine image that is within you and your privilege of giving birth to that image. So we all need to take time to reflect upon it and realize that for ourselves.

The First Essential

The Christmas story is symbolic. Jesus, the baby, the child that expressed the fullness of his divine potential is symbolic of that possibility within us of our expressing our full potential. And out of the story we learn that the first essential of our Christian heritage, of our Christian faith, is really knowing that each one of us bears the image of God within. If we are really true to the Christmas story, if we really understand the depth of it for ourselves and apply it to ourselves we know that each one of us bears the image and likeness of God. That means you, and me, and every one of us.

If we know that about ourselves, then we must know it about each other. And if we know it about each other then we cannot enslave, or segregate, or denigrate, or make anyone a second class citizen, whether they be male or female, white or black, gay or straight. Every one of us bears that image of God and the likeness of God within us and ours is that privilege of giving birth to the fullness of it.

The Second Essential

There’s a second thing, too, that is an essential. When we look at that story of Jesus and his life, we see that his life is symbolic of what our life can be, not in its exact proportions because we are to be our own real self. But his life expressing the fullness of God is symbolic of our lives. And as we look at his life, we find the overriding factor is the truth that no one is left out of God’s love through his actions. Remember, Jesus said “if you see me – if you really see me – then you have seen the Father.” So if we really see Jesus then we’ve seen the expression of God, what that God presence is like in each one of us.

Every one of us is the object of God’s love; and we see that in his life and the activities taking place around him. We see that we can do nothing to separate ourselves from that love. Betray God, and God loves you; deny God, and God loves you still. We try to even kill the love of God, and God responds by forgiving and loving us.

You see, this is the story of Jesus, but it’s also the story of God’s expression in and through our lives. So the second essential is that we are the object of God’s love and we can never be separate from that love. We need time to reflect upon that because as we take the time then we are given the power to move into action to be the expression of that love, of that divine incarnation, and to be conscious of it, and to become conscious of who and what we are.

A friend was sharing with me not long ago that he was driving in a little automobile during a thunderstorm, and he went whooshing into a puddle that was not just a puddle. It was more than a foot deep; he got in the middle of it and his car quit on him. And he couldn’t get it started again. So there he was trying to start his car in the middle of this big puddle when a pickup truck came by and stopped. The driver leaned out and said, “I’ll tell you how to start your car. Don’t keep trying to start it now. If you will wait, there’s enough heat in the engine to dry out the plugs and the wires, but you’re going to have to wait for about fifteen or twenty minutes and if you’ll wait then turn the key and it will start.” Then he drove off.

So this friend, who was not often given to waiting, he waited. And he waited just over fifteen minutes; then he turned the key and it started the first time.

When we wait we are given the power to move into action. And that’s true about knowing the truth of our own being. When we wait and know the truth of our own being, then we can move into action centered in that truth.

The Third Essential 

The third essential of our faith, the third essential of our Christian story or the Christmas story, is that we can become all that we are meant to become. The concept of the Holy Spirit gives us that truth. Holy means “whole,’ it means “complete.” It is God’s Spirit; it is God’s whole Spirit active in and through you. So when we accept ourselves as we are and see our wholeness then we are becoming what we are meant to be. Thus, as we glimpse this divine incarnation within us, and we wait, and we act upon that and from that consciousness then we move into the world in a different way.

We recognize our wholeness, we recognize our freedom. So the black person can say, “My God, black is beautiful.” And that’s whole and healthy to say that. And a woman can say, “I will not be defined by a man, especially one who looks at me in a subservient and subhuman way.” That’s healthy, that’s whole, and that’s liberty, that’s freedom. And a gay person who says, “I will be true to myself; I will live according to my integrity of who and what I am.” That’s freedom, and that’s healthy, that’s wholeness. And a man who says, “I will become all that I can become.” That’s a whole new creation, isn’t it?

This is giving birth to the divine in you, the image of God in you, bringing forth that wholeness.

Jesus knew that. Remember, he had come to the River Jordan and he’d been baptized by John then he had gone off into the wilderness and he was tempted. He was tempted to live in his ego, to be powerful in a human way, and he recognized the truth of his being that he really needed to express the truth of God in him. And if the divine incarnation was to come into expression in the world it was to come through him, as it is to come through each one of us. And here’s what we read in the scriptures about the first time he spoke his truth to a group of people:

“And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up; and he went to the synagogue, as his custom was, on the Sabbath day. And he stood up to read; and there was given to him the book of the prophet Isaiah. He opened the book and found the place where it was written,

“’The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.’

“And he closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’” (Luke 4:16-21)

Jesus knew that was his work, to express the truth of his being in whatever way he could in bringing the message that would set people free, and would open people’s eyes.

Meister Eckhart said it in a little different way. He said, “What good is it to me if this eternal birth of the divine son takes place unceasingly but does not take place within myself? And what good is it to me if Mary is full of grace and I am not also full of grace? What good is to me for the Creator to give birth to his or her son if I do not also give birth to him in my time and in my culture? This then is the fullness of time when the Son of God is begotten in us.”

We are called to become all that we can be, to bring forth the divine incarnation. And we do it in simple ways, but we do it first through the awareness of the image of God within us, And secondly, we do it through loving one another, seeing the Christ in one another. And thirdly, we do it by recognizing that we are called to bring forth that divine incarnation in our lives.

Sometimes we may look at that and see it as an overwhelming task. But we can look at it in a different way and realize that the Spirit of God comes forth in simple ways, just as it was in a simple stable that the baby Jesus was born and not in some grand palace. In simple ways the truth of God’s presence comes forth in our lives and we can share that truth.

To help you in doing that this Christmas season here are various actions you can take as you answer the call and bring forth that realization of God’s Spirit in you.

The blessing of Christmas cards:
Don’t just write the cards and send them off without thought; bless those cards. It’s the feeling that we have when we do it that’s important. So bless your Christmas cards; and here’s a blessing you can use: “These cards are messengers of my love and I send them forth in the spirit of love.”

Preparing your gift list:
Giving gifts is a great joy; our gifts are chosen to carry a special expression of love to someone else. Think about the gift you are giving, not only the outer gift but a special spiritual gift. What is the gift you would choose to give them in a spiritual way? Expressing your love is the important thing.

Overcoming hurry:
It’s important that you remain centered. “In quietness and peace I relax and let God work through me. God brings order to my thinking and harmony is created within me and around me. I have plenty of time and energy to do the things I really want to do.

Going into crowds:
“I am centered and poised in the peace of Jesus Christ. I remain at peace wherever I go and I see this peace in everyone.” You can be a real blessing wherever you go; you are bringing forth God’s image and you are seeing that divine incarnation, the Christ, in everyone. You’ll see that it makes a really big difference in your own experience and you’ll see how it touches other people’s lives during this season.

Someone has written:
 
You are Christmas every time you smile and help to make the world a brighter place.

You are Christmas every time you laugh and let the sound join with all the happy music of the world.

You are Christmas every time you speak a word of faith to some fearful soul along an unpaved road.

You are Christmas every time you pray a prayer for those who need your very special blessing.

You are Christmas every time your loving hand goes out of the way to give that extra special service.

You are Christmas!

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Your copy of my recently published mini-book, Miracle Power You Can Use Today, Seven Secrets of Spiritual Growth for Your Wealth, Health and Happiness is now available.

The book, in addition to being a powerful spiritual resource for your reading pleasure, has two unique features:

You can enhance your experience of the book through access to an online environment for an even deeper, personalized experience of this book’s message. 

Secondly, after reading the book, you are invited to pass the book along to someone you know who you believe will benefit from the message in this book. After you’ve passed the book along you can access a tracking system to see where it goes and how it changes people’s lives.

Here’s what one person said about the book recently: “I virtually devoured it….reading, highlighting and enjoying some three times now. On my next trip through it I will be going to the online tool. Just didn’t want to interrupt for that on my first reading(s), but looking forward to that unique experience.”

He said his intent is to purchase more copies to send to others. Another person had the same idea; she said she is purchasing ten copies to send to friends and loved ones. That’s a great Christmas gift idea!

Just to whet your appetite, here’s an excerpt from the first chapter of the book, Connect with Your Source:

“God is constant as principle, always present, everywhere present, in wholeness, and at every point in space and time. There is no absence of God anywhere at any time.

“I’m not sure whether you have ever thought of God in that way, but if you have then it has changed your life.

“If you have not, then if you can capture that idea of God as principle, of God as present, the idea of unity with God, I can truly say that your life will never be the same again. It will change your life for the better . . .”

The paperback mini-book, Miracle Power, can be purchased for $9.95 through Amazon. com at http://www.amazon.com/dp/0977625117/?tag=spiritualsolu-20 

Or you can go to  www.messengerminibooks.com.

Just scroll down until you see the book and then click on the Amazon link. You can also purchase the book in e-book format on that same site. The e-book is $7.95.

After purchase of either printed book or e-book you will be able to access the online journal. If you purchase the printed book you will also be able to utilize the pass-along tracking option.

Enjoy your book! Maybe you’ll want to get extra copies to send out as wonderful Christmas gifts for friends and loved ones.

Remember, God is Blessing You Right Now!

Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham

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Let me tell you a story about a young boy. The man who told me this, it was his story; we’ll say his name was Bill. I’ll try to tell it just as he told it to me.

As a young boy he was with his younger brother on a bus, traveling from Cincinnati to Canton, Ohio, on Christmas Eve. They didn’t have their parents with them because, he said, “My parents had to go to Pittsburgh, so they couldn’t be with us. So they left us with a best friend of my mother’s who then put us on the bus.

“We’re on the bus, and I’m looking through the window and seeing the snow beginning, light snow flakes are falling as I’m watching. My brother is sleeping next to me. As I watch the snow begins to get stronger, and snow flakes begin to rush past the window as the bus is going along. So I woke my brother up, because he always felt he wanted to have an adventure wherever we went and it usually seemed to pass us by. I thought maybe this would be the opportunity, that we’d run into a snow bank or something and maybe boarded by bandits, so I thought I’d wake him up.

“So I woke him up and I let him sit in my place by the window because our mother always said that we needed to exchange places and not fight over it, so we always did it even though my mother wasn’t there. We exchanged places and he pressed his face against the glass and watched. He kept saying to me, ‘More snow, more snow, more snow.’ And indeed, the snow kept coming and coming, and soon the bus was slowed to a crawl; it went slower and slower, and we felt it pull into a gas station. I’d heard the bus driver talking on his radio asking what he should do; he must have been told to pull into this gas station and he did. There was a restaurant there in the form of an old railroad car.

“The bus driver stood up and said, ‘We all need to go into the restaurant. So bundle up.’ So we bundled up, pulled our hats over our ears and put on our mittens or gloves and we all made our way into the restaurant. Once in the restaurant we didn’t know what was going to happen, and the bus driver said, ‘It looks like we might have to stay here tonight until the roads are clear, until the snow ploughs are out and clear the snow away.’ And I got frightened and my brother started to cry. He said, ‘I want to go to Aunt Alice’s.’

“That’s where we were on there way toward, our uncle and aunt in Canton, Ohio, and we would meet with our parents there. We were worried, and all the people were worried. They didn’t want to stay with strangers on Christmas Eve, of all times. So they were all upset. But pretty soon they began to settle down and some of the adults started drinking coffee or eating chicken salad sandwiches, and some just sat staring at their hands.

“Then this strange woman came up to my brother and me and said, ‘You’re too young to be traveling alone on that bus.’ Then she said, ‘I want to buy you some hot chocolate.’ So she took us to the counter and bought hot chocolate. And we had hot chocolate. But my brother kept crying and crying; he was really unhappy. He said, ‘I want to go to Aunt Alice’s and sing the manger song and eat cookies and have presents. I want to go. . . .’ He burst into tears again. I didn’t know how to placate him and settle him down.

“But a strange thing happened just about that time; all the people began to talk to each other. I noticed that little groups started forming; they were laughing and joking with one another and telling each other about their families, where they’d come from and where they were going and where they were spending Christmas.

“Pretty soon there was a lot of excitement going on; I thought this would cheer up my little brother, but it didn’t. He kept saying, ‘I want to go to my aunties, I want to sing the manger song, and I want to eat cookies, and . . .’ He just started crying all over again.

“The strange lady who had introduced herself as Mrs. Margaret Mills and who had told me that her husband was dead – I don’t know why she told me that, but she said her husband was dead – came up to us again and said, ‘Why don’t you go and sit down in the booth?’ So we went and sat in the booth and she kept looking at us. Finally she came over to us and said, ‘I’d like to join you. Do you mind?’ And she sat down, and she took up a lot of room because she was a big lady.

“She kept looking at my brother. And then the strangest thing that I’d ever seen happened. Her face, which was kind of ugly and scared me a little bit because she had a big nose and a huge neck, began to soften as she looked at my brother. She looked at him, and she began to sing softly, ‘Away in a manger, no crib for a bed . . .’ And she went on singing like that, just to us. My brother looked up; he was startled at first, and then he reached out his hand to this woman’s hand and they both started singing together, ‘The stars in the bright sky looked down where he lay . . .’ They sang loud and everybody started to join in and a young man unpacked a guitar, and the bus driver took out a harmonica, and they began to sing carols. They sang so many carols that anyone had ever heard.

“And that’s how we spent Christmas Eve together. Then we all settled down.

“I had a card in my pocket with my uncle’s telephone number on it; my mother had pinned it inside my pocket. And the bus driver came and asked me, did I have a phone number for the people who were going to meet us? So I gave him that card. My mother had pinned it there because I was always losing stuff. And the bus driver went off to call my aunt. I didn’t hear from him for a while, but then he called my name. I was just thinking that I’d love to talk to my Aunt Alice and he called me; he said, ‘Your Aunt Alice is on the phone.’ So I went to the phone and Aunt Alice was so calm, and she said, ‘You know, your parents are out right now; they’re at church with your cousins. But they’ll be back and they’ll come to get you in the morning, so you stay where you are right now and everything’s going to be all right and they’ll be there to get you once the snow ploughs have been.’

“I felt pretty good after that, I wasn’t too worried; my brother was a little bit upset but feeling better with all the carol singing. So we snuggled down together like everybody else did, leaning against each other or on the floor or up against the counter, on tables, and we all slept that night of Christmas Eve.

“ next morning, I knew my parents were coming to get us so we started saying goodbye to everybody because they started boarding the bus. It was about 11 o’clock and the snow ploughs had gone through. They were boarding the bus, and the last one to go was Mrs. Mills. She came up to us and looked at us. She said, ‘Boys, I’ll never forget you at this Christmastime; you’ve been my Christmas present and I will always remember you like that.’ She kissed us both on the forehead and she boarded the bus and I never saw her again.

“That night, we were settled comfortably at Aunt Alice’s. We were around the fire and we were going to start singing carols, and I told my Dad the whole story. I said to him, ‘I wonder what she meant by that being her Christmas present? We really didn’t give her anything. What could she have meant by that?’ He said, ‘Son, I don’t really know, but it could be that somehow you brought her a gift that she would treasure always, something that we don’t always know about. You see, a true gift, we don’t always know what a true gift is from the outside. But from the inside it’s something really special, it carries more value than the apparent substance of the gift. So,’ he said, ‘it may have been your cute faces together that she saw or it may have been that you were not afraid of her, or that you liked her and you sang with her; any of those things. But just know that the gift you gave her was precious and I want you to hold that gift in your heart and make that your gift to me also.’

“Then they all gathered around the piano, and I joined them but I was thinking about Mrs. Margaret Mills and how much I missed her and what a lovely, lovely voice came out of that strange body. And I was thinking, wherever she is I hope that she’s with someone who likes her singing as much as I did.”

You know, Christmas is an inner story, isn’t it? The Christmas experience is an inner experience, where it’s the Christmas of your life and not just the Christmas of everybody’s but a Christmas of your life. It can be that. We’ve all had different experiences of Christmas but may this be for you the Christmas of your life, where you recognize and feel and experience the Christ born in you this Christmas. Feel that, and know that. The Christ will, literally, be born into your awareness and will become a part of your consciousness and a vital part of your humanity from this time on.

God is Blessing You, Right Now!

Merry Christmas!

Rev. Alan a. Rowbotham

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Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham, a Unity minister for over thirty-seven years, invites you to subscribe to his free inspirational newsletter, “Spiritual Solutions,” at Spiritual Solutions. Feel free to share this article in its entirety with a friend.

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Christmas combines probably the greatest gathering of customs and traditions from many people of many lands, and probably the greatest event in human history, when all of those customs, folklore and traditions come together into a harmonious whole to bring us what we know as the Christmas season. How wonderful that is.

As we remember our traditions and take part in family customs, or perhaps see our children involved in a Christmas pageant, it recreates in us each year a true spirit of Christmas.

The very first Christmas pageant was put together by St. Francis of Assisi. He put on a Christmas pageant with real people and real animals, and the people it is said were so blessed by this that they spontaneously burst into joyous song. And that started community singing or carol singing. So both the pageant and the carol singing originally came from St. Francis of Assisi. 

We think about all the traditions that come together at Christmas and we sometimes wonder where they come from. Like the Christmas tree for instance. The Christmas tree originally, for the Germans, symbolized the Garden of Eden, because it came from a play called the Paradise Baum which meant “The Tree of Paradise.” It was a medieval play. The Tree of Paradise became the Christmas tree.

At that time the play was enacted outdoors, then later suppressed and the people were not allowed to perform the play. So they took the tree, instead of having it outdoors, they took the fir trees indoors. And that’s when it began to become the Christmas tree. At first there was nothing on the tree; it was just a live tree that was taken indoors to remind people of the evergreen, the life that was always there in the midst of the darkest winter.

But is said that Martin Luther was walking through the countryside one evening; it was a dark yet starry and moonlit night and the moon was shining on the snow-tipped branches of the evergreen trees. He was so taken by this scene that when he arrived home he tried to explain it and have his family envision that scene, and in order to help them envision the scene he lighted candles and attached them to the limbs of the fir tree that was in the house.

That’s how the tradition started of having lights on the Christmas tree. We don’t have just regular candles on Christmas trees anymore. You know why? Well, in the early days when that happened there were a few fires.

When I was young and growing up in England we used candles; we had little clips that fitted on the branches of the tree and the candles slotted into little metal cups. The candles were about the size of birthday cake candles and were usually spiraled and they fit into the cups, and we lit the candles on the tree at Christmas time. Of course, later on actual lights were used on the Christmas tree.

So the Christmas tree is a very special symbol for us all, isn’t it? And mistletoe. Think about mistletoe and you may wonder where the tradition of that came from. Well the beginning for that was way back in the first and second centuries. The Druid priests considered the mistletoe holy, and on the fifth day after the close of the winter solstice they would go out and use a golden knife to cut the mistletoe off the holy oak trees. And they would distribute the sprigs of mistletoe to the people in the village. The mistletoe was said to be sacred and it would keep away all of the woodland spirits or evil spirits that might enter their home. So they would hang it over the door and it would keep those evil spirits out.

Do you know where they word “mistletoe” came from? The mistletoe came from an old Anglo-Saxon word or two words, “mistel” and “tan.” At first it was called “misteltan.” And “mistel” simply means “dung.” And “tan” means “twig.” So it was the dung which the birds dropped that grew on the twig. At first, instead of thinking of just seeds that were passing through the birds, they thought the birds actually brought the berries that were there.

Soon it grew into a greater symbol. In Scandinavia they had the idea of the mistletoe representing fertility.

They had a goddess of fertility called Freya and a god of the summer sun called Balda. Freya rescued Balda and brought about his resurrection through the mistletoe. So they recognized it had life-giving powers; that it brought humans back to life. In Scandinavia, too, they hung it over the door frames to keep evil spirits out and to bring life into the house. So it has a long history.

The Romans also recognized it as a symbol of peace and whenever they came to a place where there was mistletoe in the oak trees in winter, they would lay down their arms if they were facing enemies and declare a truce between them.

Mistletoe gradually came to symbolize love and of course after that there came the kissing under the mistletoe which is an inevitable conclusion and a lovely practice.

Holly was also recognized as a very much prized but prickly decoration for doorways and windows, especially on doorways because it was said to either keep evil spirits out or snag them before they could get in. It was a sort of like fly-paper for fairies or something.

There was also a legend that the crown of thorns that Jesus wore at the crucifixion was made up of holly leaves, and that’s how the holly wreaths came about for us in our day.

So as we look at all these things, we think “Wow, let’s look at all the other symbols that are there.” One we don’t use so much in the United States is the wassail bowl. Have you ever heard of that? The wassail bowl really originated with the Anglo-Saxons round about the fifth century. At their feasts they used to pass around the golden cup of mead or wine, and they would salute each other with the words, “Was Hale!” And it meant “Behold!”

So it became the wassail bowl, and they used to fill it with wine and other magical ingredients and carry it around to all the households of the village so that everyone could drink of that wassail bowl.

The Christmas stocking and the idea of hanging it on the mantelpiece, the fireplace, was at first a stocking hung on the fireplace to dry. And the story goes that St. Nicholas came by and accidentally dropped a bag of gold in the stocking; and it took off from there.

The children of Amsterdam used to place wooden shoes or clogs inside the fireplace so that when St. Nick looked down he could see the shoes there, and if he saw them they were sure to get goodies. Later they purposefully substituted socks or stockings for the shoes because the shoes were not flexible but the stockings were and they would hold a lot more goodies.

The Yule log comes from Scandinavia, a dark country and very cold in the winter time. At the beginning of the winter season the men would go out and get the biggest log they could find and drag it back to the baronial hall where they would put it in the fireplace and light it; it would stay lighted all winter because they would keep feeding that log.

The tradition was that the Yule log would be lighted from the Yule log of the previous year, so the fire would always be going. The word comes from the Feast of Juul; that’s where we get our Yuletide from.

Where did Christmas presents or Christmas gifts start? Well, long ago, gifts used to be exchanged at New Year; it was a pagan custom. Then the early priests suggested it would be better at Christmastime since it was a time of goodwill and looking after the poor. So they started to go around collecting money and jewelry in boxes for distribution to the poor. At first they called those boxes “priests boxes,” the gradually began to call them presents. Then as the Christmas tree came along, the presents were either on or under the tree.

Christmas cards were started in about 1846 by a man named Joseph Kundle, He made them out of a lithograph plate and hand-painted them. It didn’t come into vogue until 1862, some years later, and then it all started off. Now today, in the United States alone, we send more than two billion Christmas cards every year.

The greeting “Merry Christmas!” comes from England. In the olden days on Christmas morning the villagers would throw their windows open and would call out to their neighbors “Merry Christmas!” And it sort of captures the jollity of the whole Christmas season and all the traditions, doesn’t it, and brings it all together.

So we say today, “Merry Christmas!”

We become filled with the spirit of Christmas because all of those traditions have carried us right up to this point today. And Christmas is a time of light, isn’t it? We look around and we see the beautiful lights. My wife, Kathryn, and I love to ride around the area at night and look at the Christmas lights.

The Christmas trees have a sort of enchantment for children and adults alike. And when we see a wreath, either in a window or on a door, we know that it proclaims a holiday.

We have a sense of upliftment when we see all of these decorations. And surely, Christmas itself, the idea of Christmas and what it’s all about is a time of light, isn’t it? Where the star shines brightly and the heavens are radiant with light, and the whole season is bright with the sense of welcoming the Christ child. It’s a time of light. It’s a time of love. It’s a time of giving.

One person said that “Christmas is whenever and wherever someone is touched by that ever-living and ever-giving Spirit of God, so that their hearts are opened with the expression of unselfish love.”

So, Merry Christmas to you!

Remember, God is Blessing You, Right Now!

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Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham, a Unity minister for over thirty-seven years, invites you to subscribe to his free inspirational newsletter, “Spiritual Solutions,” at Spiritual Solutions. Feel free to share this article in its entirety with a friend.

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