Christmas Eve

December 24, 2024

​​​​​Reflecting On this Christmas Eve 2024

On this Christmas Eve, we pause to give thanks for all the many blessings of this year. And we prepare our hearts for tomorrow when we receive the Christ child into our homes and souls. Being with friends and family is a precious time; it is a season—a holy period celebrated each year by Christian churches to commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ. It is a time of giving and nurturing. It has affected so many people that over the years it has become a secular as well as religious holiday. Yet had it not been for a teenage mother named Mary, her baby, and a man called Joseph two thousand years ago, there would be no Christmas. 

The baby born in Bethlehem grew into someone whose wisdom changed the world. Who would have expected a poor "illegitimate" child to one day have a following of 2.4 billion? What is the reason why so many people ascribe to Christ's message? For me, it is because Jesus's teachings are the way to consciousness, and consciousness occurs only when the ego is surrendered to a higher power, the Creator. And in surrender, there is an intimate relationship with the Divine that embraces and holds us.

So for people to believe in Christ's message, the ego surrenders its power and knowledge to the incomprehensible— the miraculous entry into the world of the Divine who came in the form of a man— and to his message — that to live abundantly, we must ask forgiveness for our errors, turn away from those errors, and enter a new life in relationship to the Divine. In the relationship to the Divine, we are enabled to return to our original wholeness, instead of remaining in the brokenness of our suffering. The beauty of this message is that it is true, and people's lives are transformed and saved from despair, hatred, meaninglessness, and egocentricity. 

That simple message has changed the lives of millions upon millions. This Christmas Eve, we reflect on the miraculous event of Jesus's birth, life, and death. We are joyful as we anticipate the glorious morning and remember the birth of the Christ child then, and again in our hearts. This joy comes from a heart of gratitude.

May you have a blessed Christmas Eve,

Joe