Christmas 2013: But wait, there’s more….

Christmas is upon us, even though it was June when I last looked. Well, not quite, but you know what I mean! The Silly Season is full of things to excess - food and drink, giving and receiving presents, family gatherings both happy and difficult. The retail world wants us to spend up big, and it seems that this year we might. 

Does all this bring lasting happiness? 

And of course, once it is all over, we go back to the routine, and forget all the fun and stress. The happiness of new places, new things, new experiences soon fades - it always does. But it doesn’t have to be like that! We don’t have to be addicted to ever-higher highs, followed by new lows. There is another way to live.

Underneath the wind-swept waves out at sea lies calmer water; but to get to it we have to learn how to dive. Underneath the frazzle of our daily lives, there is a calmer space; but most of us have to learn how to get to it. Why would we bother? Because it holds the clue to stopping the frazzle. It’s like finding a hidden water hole, with fresh water gently bubbling out, in the middle of the hot dry desert. It points to a source of peace that is beyond understanding, but which beckons us, and it is no mirage. 

Christmas today has become a festival of consumerism. It wasn’t always so.  There’s more, so much more, if we take the time to look! 

© Parkdale Church of Christ 2012-18 — A community of faith, hope and compassion.