Counting on Christmas, Part 2

Spirituality Column #161
December 8, 2009
Current in Carmel - Current in Westfield - Current in Noblesville
(Indianapolis north suburban home newspapers)

Counting On Christmas, Part 2
By Bob Walters

It’s the time of year we count things.

At Thanksgiving, we count our blessings.

Then we count shopping days until Christmas.

We count gifts bought and gifts to buy.

Maybe we count on a Christmas bonus.

Stores count on sales and count on “making it” with Christmas commerce.

We are smart to count (and mind) our money and calories.

We count how many presents are under the tree for each of our children …

Because we can count on our children counting them and challenging any perceived disparities or injustice.

We count, we count, we count. How many presents? How much money? How many calories? How many bills?

We count up presents and we count down the days.

Now … does all this counting add up to a Merry Christmas?

Does it add up to the “ineffably sublime” participation in Christ – because God became human – that is ours purely on faith?

Can we put a number on God’s Creation, which is as inexpressible (ineffable) as it is wonderful (sublime)? Is there a satisfaction index for the birth of our hope in eternal life? Or for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit?

Can you count up what it means for God Almighty to become flesh to demonstrate His pure and divine love for all mankind? No, no, no, no and no.

Christianity is a loving relationship with God, not an amount. This season’s joy is not a matter of economics or mathematics. Love is a gift, but not one that can be put under a tree or counted.

It can only be counted upon.

When we enumerate Christmas – making it a numbers game of counting and comparing – it costs us the peace that is too far inside our souls to ever properly be part of an equation. Christ personally gives us that peace – it’s a gift – which we should be overjoyed to celebrate in this blessed season. It’s the peace of knowing Him, of living with Him, of sharing Him, of obeying Him, of transforming our lives for Him.

Christ wasn’t much for counting things; He was for understanding the value of things that can’t be counted, the things that really matter.

Christ’s love is the true meaning of Christmas, and it is not a quantitative proposition. It’s a gift we simply have to accept, and Christmas is a good time to do it.

That about sums it up.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) is writing this month about the Christ in Christmas, and pretty much always says “Merry Christmas” whether it’s politically correct or not.