It's late evening on Christmas Eve in SWMO. It's cold outside, but the fireplace inside is comfy and cozy. On the other side of the globe, my Filipino and Aussie families are already deep into Christmas morning. Our Santa stocking holder letters have been rearranged to spell Satan, just to remember the presence of an impish son that now lives in another country. Chris is cleaning because that's what Chris does and I am chilling with a spiked egg nog and typing out a Christmas Eve blog.
My mood tonight is not as joyful as one might expect on Christmas Eve. That "Peace on earth, good will to men" thing is sort of bringing me down. I've heard it argued that it was originally written as "Peace on earth to men of good will," but I never really checked that out. Either way, I am often dismayed that there doesn't seem to be much of either - peace on earth nor men of good will.
I struggle with the feeling that I should be doing something to bring about more of both versus the feeling that I've had enough of humanity and just want to be left alone. I sometimes wonder if God ever felt like that - struggling to help bring peace to humanity or leaving us to ourselves and our own destruction. Maybe Christmas is the result. I don't really know.
It's been a long week for shelter workers in SWMO. I'm tired and maybe not thinking straight. I hope that we have given some peace and rest to a few people that would have struggled greatly through the bitterly cold temperatures. Our Christmas will be small and simple. I wouldn't even call it a celebration, more of an observance, I guess.
I hope that your Christmas Eve or Christmas Day celebrations/observances give you peace and perhaps, an opportunity to share some good will towards others.
Merry Christmas,
John
"Peace on earth, good will to men"
ReplyDeleteIf you look through all the versions of the bible they all say it differently. Some are not even close to either one of those versions.