“We love each other, period.”
As I write this message, we are only a few days from Christmas, so allow me to say Merry Christmas to you, your family and your friends! I love the Christmas holiday and the Christmas season. It is truly the time of year where we all show the most love for each other, and it’s beautiful to see.
It’s not just the love that we show to our family and friends that I appreciate but also the love shared with strangers. This time of year brings the best out of people and, for a short time, makes many of us forget about our differences. What a beautiful world it would be if we could do that all year long, but sometimes I feel like you take what you can get.
Some celebrate Christmas as a religious holiday, and some celebrate it as a commercial holiday. Still, the tradition for a holiday itself comes from the first Christmas story. Many know it but do not realize an essential part of it. Of course, it’s common knowledge that Christmas is the celebration of Jesus Christ’s birth. It was a true sign of love that God would give his only son to the world. It is part of the reason why we give each other gifts this time of year, just like God did.
The important part that I feel most of us forget or maybe don’t realize is that God sent his son here in the humblest way. He was born to a low-income family and born stable amongst the shepherds in a very small town, with only his immediate family and a few strangers present.
This is different than any other “royalty” or “kings” would ever be imagined presenting themselves in that time. He showed up just like us and made it known he was just like us. This is God and Jesus’s example in the first Christmas: Love and Humility. Even non-Christians carry on this tradition and attitude to this very day.
Around this time of year, I also reflect on our very first Christmas party at TLC. It was based on love and humility, and there was also not a big crowd in attendance! Three of us (Jack, Loretta and I) sat in a booth at a local family restaurant. We dressed a little nicer than usual, exchanged small affordable gifts, and celebrated by eating a meal together and reflecting on the year. It was almost 20 years ago, and it is still clearly in my memory to this day.
We were grateful and thought we had a great year that day. In comparison, that great year would be more like one days’ worth of business now, but we had no idea on that day; we just shared the love and celebrated life. I sometimes visit that same restaurant to this very day and remember that booth that we sat in, but I remember the feeling of that night even more. It was a special night, and it followed the Christmas tradition of love and humility that still inspires us to this day!
I would again like to wish all of you and your families a very Merry Christmas, and I ask you to please be safe this week. I also ask you to be kind to one another and show the love and humility that we have been shown in our examples! It is the most authentic and most fulfilling way to celebrate Christmas, and it would make my heart happy knowing you did so.
Christmas teaches us to love each other, period, and at TLC, we agree. Let’s take this attitude of love and humility into the Christmas weekend and right into and through the new year! We can change the world with love, and we must do so!
Thank you for reading, and God bless you!
Merry Christmas 2021
