So its the same-same story. We all greet everyone else as the year 2011 draws to a close with the same thot, same expression - aiya, so fast time pass hor... another Christmas already, another new year ahead. In about a week's time, we say hello to 2012. The newspapers will be flooded as usual with pictures and pages of 2011 events, consigned to something we call memory or history. Again people will be talking about making and no doubt breaking resolutions.
I will be hosting the usual pot-bless dinner with some old 'kaki' before we head off to count down the new year in church. Yep, we are doing the same ol' same ol' things that we have been doing for the past 10 years, ever since we joined the big family of Christ .
My eldest princess turned chef for Christmas nite and cooked up the mandatory family dinner. But this year we were blessed with a huge turkey , thanks to a loving sister in Christ, and besides my brother, we seated an additional guest (the chef's bf) at the table. Definitely more left-overs from the feast this year! The same tree had been put up a few weeks ago, except it now dangled with some newer ornaments, it stood in the same corner of the living room. And if you are game enuf to visit the malls at this time of year, there are plenty of trees decked up ever so nicely, just for people to admire and pose with for the camera. The kids as usual had hunted around for presents all over the crowded malls, right till the last minute. Only this year, they got lazier; instead of wrapping them up nicely, they just dumped the ones meant for family under the tree - save the trees, save work; after all its gonna come off anyway - can't beat that kind of logic, tho its so totally un-Christmassy. My brother - being the usual generous uncle that he is, had blessed the kids with spending money and asked me to name what i wanted for myself. I was reminded of Queen Esther who was asked by her king 2x, "What is it, Queen Esther? What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be given you." So tongue in cheek, i asked my brother, if i wanted half his kingdom, would he give it to me? (he never answered me on this one, heh heh)
Indeed what present could satisfy the human heart? Diamonds on your fingers, rings on your toes, gold bars in the bank, mansion by the lake, sports car in the garage? Good health, prosperity, no troubles, no heartache? Throw in perhaps, a steady job (or for some, any job), a good boss, understanding frens, loving family... the list could go on and on. So what do i want? For once i honestly couldn't be bothered getting myself anything for Christmas; oh, there are of coz lots of things i could want, but all the glitzy blitzy stuff the world had to offer really didn't excite me anymore ; in fact it had ceased to matter a long time back, just that this year, I totally gave up the effort of even wading thru the endless labyrinth of shops - with each passing year it seems my case of crowd-phobia gets worse, maybe its just the 'aging factor', or maybe its just the little niggling voice that asks, do you need 1 more dress, 1 more pair of shoes, 1 more this or 1 more that to be happy?? Nah, not worth battling the queues for... So I told my brother, what I want he couldn't give, since I already had that which God Himself had given me 10 years ago - a love that abides, peace that's out of this world, joy that abounds - all that gives meaning and purpose to life; what more could i ask for?
Over the week before Christmas, in the light of seemingly random happenings, the knowledge that I already had all that mattered really blessed my heart....
I went out to lunch with an old lawyer fren from my long ago days of legal practice. She tells me she's seen so much death this year, her own father, family members, frens, her district assemblyman; she's had quite enuf of funerals.....Another fren sent me an email which pointed out that Jesus wasn't born on Dec 25th, and Christmas actually came from paganistic rituals of long ago, things which i already knew anyway. It concluded there was nothing to celebrate about Christmas, since its all a big sham....The Sat before, as usual, I was helping out at the street-feeding alley and sat down to talk with an old man who disclosed that he was already 66 yrs old and in between odd jobs. I wondered why he wasn't with family, he didn't say much, but his eyes said everything about rejection, loneliness, tough times past and present (and likely future). I asked him if he believed in God, he said yes, he knows Jesus. And so I reminded him what having Jesus meant - it didn't mean a life free of problems, or a life full of all good stuff. But it did mean having a God who is so much much bigger than life's problems, becoz He rose from the dead, and is alive with us. I pointed to his white flowy beard and recounted Jesus knows how many hairs he has on his chinny chin chin. The old man looked like he was going to cry as he kept nodding his head, as if willing his brain to remember why he believed and whom he believed. I did the one thing i know how to do in such circumstances - I prayed for him. Its not often I hand out money to these street-folks, I have heard too many sob-stories to fall prey to emotion. But in this case, to one who never asked and never spoke the need, I felt led to press $10 into his wrinkled hands ; to let him know Jesus cares, always has and always will . He looked up without a word, but his eyes said the thank-you that was in his heart. And i knew as much as he was thanking me, he was thanking God for reminding him of the hope that he had in Christ Jesus which no one and no trial could wrest away...... On Christmas afternoon, I followed a neighbor to visit her fren who had undergone state-of-the-art treatment of a suspicious lump pressing on her spinal nerve. For one facing such a situation, she was so joyously confident it would be ok even if her life were to end this moment, for the simple reason she knows Jesus holds her hand even thru the valley of the shadow of death.....
Some things will never change - the fact of suffering, unfairness and death in our midst, the fact that despite the questionable origin of Christmas and its misunderstood connotations due to gross commercialisation , Jesus Christ isn't a sham - and He is definitely worth celebrating about. Becoz that moment in time some 2000 years ago when God decided to connect with mankind on earth in the form of a human baby born of a virgin - things changed for eternity. That moment in time when Jesus hung on the cross to fulfil God's plan for mankind's redemption, things were never the same again. And that's why i celebrate Christmas - not for the usual same ol' same ol' things of nice presents, yummy dinners and melodious carols . But for the difference that the Christ who came has made and continues to make a difference in my life on earth. For that matter, the difference He can make to anyone who would just believe. But for Him, my sins would condemn me into a horrible hereafter, but for Him, I would never have known the peace of God that transcends all human understanding and overcomes all circumstances. But for Him, I wouldn't have known unending love, amazing grace. But for Him, I would not know what life is in all its abundance, here, now and certainly in the hereafter. That's the priceless gift I have received and forever hold dear, not just remembered every Christmas, but in every moment that i still draw breath. How blessed I am!
"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace"...Isaiah 9:6 "... you are to give him the name Jesus, because He will save his people from their sins" ... Matthew 1:21
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