Tipperary Mystic - Spending time in the presence of love is the greatest gift of all

Christmas is almost here and I for one couldn’t be happier! Both mind and body are in need of rest and I’ll be taking full advantage of the opportunity to recharge my batteries.

Of course I’ve left out what is probably the most overlooked and yet the most important element needing rest, care and attention, namely the spirit. There’s no point sleeping, eating and wondering what day it is if we don't also give a little care to our spirit.

If you’re a Christian, celebrating Christmas is an acknowledgment of your faith and an opportunity to connect with your traditions and the stories that surround them. You can follow the lead of the three wise men bringing gifts to the new born baby as you do the same for those you want to share the meaning of Christmas with as they do the same for you.

The gifts received that night, in a manger in a humble stable, have a deeper significance too. They were to honour the arrival of the King of Kings, The Messiah. In the Christian faith it’s the second most important date in the calendar, eclipsed only by Easter. Jesus himself alluded to this when he said that one should celebrate the day of their death even more than that of their birth. For Christians, his death balanced the scales and gave us all a gift, the gift of redemption.

What of those who want to celebrate the season but who are in no way religious? Is Christmas open to them or is it closed to any who aren’t believers? For me, it’s a time of reflection. I can use the biblical stories as analogies for how to live, how to think and also how to gain spiritual insights into my own relationship with the Divine, the Spirit, the Source, God. Any of these is appropriate in learning that my existence is a mirror of the workings of the universe. The Abrahamic traditions of Islam, Judaism and Christianity all agree on this point on one way or another. We are made in the image of the creator. Now, whether you believe that literally or fuguratively is your own choice. For me, I am a consciousness experiencing the world through my physical senses and through my intuitions about the world that become apparent when I’m not thinking in words but rather when I’m experiencing reality without them. Celebrating Christmas give me the opportunity to do this undistracted by the world outside, through communion with my family. Communion in this instance means coming together as one. It’s the greatest gift I could ever ask for. I spend time in the presence of love.

That’s what the Christmas spirit is all about. It’s a reaffirmation of our bonds of love and an opportunity to see where they need work to be made stronger. It’s also a good time to take stock of your own need for love. It’s not a bad thing to ask to be loved in the way you feel most loved while acknowledging that what someone has to give is their gift to you and it should be accepted.

How others show love may not be what or how you would, but if it’s what they can give be grateful for it. The same goes for physical gifts too. It really is the though that counts. You were in someone’s thoughts. That is the gift. I mean, really, when was the last time you received something so meaningful in itself that it was your actual heart’s desire? Accept what’s offered graciously and give in the same spirit.
We have co-opted other traditions into Christmas too. Santa isTurkish, the Christmas tree is Norse, mistletoe is druidic, Yuletide is Germanic and the Celts celebrated the solstice. The key to all these was the coming together and caring for each other in a spirit of rebirth and celebration of new life coming in Spring.

That’s both side of the coin. For Christians, it’s an opportunity to celebrate community and everything their faith is built upon. For everyone else it’s an opportunity to do exactly the same. It was never about what you got it was always about what you could give, not just to others but also to yourself.

Christians get to give thanks for everything the story of Jesus unfolds for them. His teaching, his example and his ultimate sacrifice. He was God’s gift to the people who believed in him.

Heathens like me get to be thankful for something too. I get to reaffirm my spark of divinity in the moments of silence. I am beyond grateful that for a time the world forgets to run and grab and take relentlessly. It affords me time where I can commune with the world around me, the people around me and with the presence I sense in everything when I stop trying to think and just let everything be just as it is.

Thank God it’s Christmas. No matter what your definition of either term it’s the one time of the year that humanity is to the fore and where it’s more important to give than to receive. Let it be a time where your spiritual battery is recharged as much as the physical or mental ones. You may get through life with the spiritual one being flat but it’s a far richer experience when all three are full to the brim!