MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!

Once again we reach that time of year, readers. A celebration that comes once every twelve months, as the Earth spins around the sun. A time of year when many feel a yearning, a driving need to reach out, to take hold of those hands around them and pull them up.

Recently I’ve been watching a new show on streaming. Don’t worry, this isn’t a non-sequitur. It connects. Anyway, this is a Christmas-themed show, as you might guess, that means that it delves into what Christmas means. It even went as far as to say that Christmas is the season of hope, that brings hope to mankind. And … then they sort of froze for a moment, without saying why it brought hope, and just sort of had to leave it hanging, even though they were diving into what Christmas was and why it was so important.

Why the freeze? Well, I’d hazard a guess that it’s because its a show produced for a global streaming service, and either the show or the producers weren’t keen on outright digging into the cause of that hope, the reason the whole holiday exists in the first place, when a large portion of their audience might not hold to that.

In a way, it was almost amusing, because the hole left there as the characters moved on definitely did hang a lampshade on things.

Why Christmas. Why hope? What makes this season, above all others around the calendar year the “season of perpetual hope?”

Because of what it represents. Two-thousand-odd years ago, a birth unlike any other took place. In manger, a most unassuming location, and yet heralded by choirs of angels and a new star in the sky.

But why hope? What about this birth was cause for such revelry? What was so significant about this child that now, thousands of years later, billions still celebrate this Christmas Eve and Christmas Day—though we know it was not the actual date of the birth, its representative—to honor that solemn occasion? What about that birth brings us hope?

Because of who that child was. Jesus the Christ, the Savior of Mankind. A long-prophesied Messiah who would take upon Himself the sins and pains of all mankind, paying the due of justice so that He, in turn, could serve as the Advocate for each and every member of the human race. A divine being who through which would give every single person the chance not just to improve, but to live again.

That’s why Christmas is the season of perpetual hope. Because of the hope that being brought to all mankind. Even for those who aren’t believers in Christ, the hope of something better, something eternal, something divine, that we can improve toward, wrapped aside the concept that a divine being cares so much about them, individually, that they would give them that chance … Well, that means something.

And yeah, some of you coming here, to this site, on Christmas … you may not believe. I still hope that for you, this season is still touching, still finds a way to bring you peace, bring to your mind what you yearn and hope for, just as it did for those shepherds thousands of years ago.

Me? I do. I stand firm in my knowledge that this being, that Savior, Jesus Christ, was born long ago, fulfilling prophecy that had been taught since the world began. While His birth was not the crux of His mission, it was the start of it, and tonight, tomorrow, and through this season, the hope that He brought and continues to bring? That is the hope of the Christmas season we celebrate.

Merry Christmas to all of us. May we all feel the spirit of the season, the hope that it stands for, and the triumph of the ages that it signifies.

Merry Christmas, readers. Peace on Earth, and good will toward men, not just tonight, today, or tomorrow, but for as long and often as we can spread it.