Beyond Christmas.

Merry Christmas to you all!  I do hope that the Christmas was truly merry for you and yours.  And if for any reason it wasn’t quite merry, I am so sorry for whatever it is that went wrong, remember that this season is especially for reasons such as yours.

Leading up to the Christmas, I couldn’t help but notice the desperation with which people tried to either sell me something or try to get me to buy into something! For me it was just plain vulgar and presumptuous for anyone to think that such brazen in-your-face, no-regard-for-others marketing was going to work.  Then I thought again, if it didn’t work maybe they would not be going at it so strong; so obviously it works!  My question is why?  I hear that this season is a time when people are most vulnerable.  So vulnerable that some even take their life!

And I asked myself, but why?  Well, because it is that time of year when people express so much love and passion; and excuse my cynicism, even though they don’t really feel it!  People who had not bothered to speak with me through the year, even when I most needed them, sent me a text wishing me a merry Christmas, and praying for me!

All these rather than make me feel special actually made me feel violated! I mean, I know we don’t get to speak or relate for another one year!  I therefore resolved I was not going to send a message, mail or text wishing anyone a merry Christmas except I really had a message for them.  I was not going to participate in another religious exercise just because it seemed the right thing to do.

What is the point of Christmas as it relates to me today? I wondered!  When I say to someone ‘Merry Christmas’ what will I really be saying?  Why was Jesus born?  Why is the anniversary of His birth worth so much celebration?  Why is there such a desperate need to succeed one more time in this season, and why do people say to me Merry Christmas when they so don’t mean it?

I had to press in for fresh perspective.  And here are my thoughts.  First, there is more to the birth than we tend to think.  In fact, the birth is important I agree, but the death of Jesus is the reason the birth is anything to write home about.  Jesus, some two thousand plus years ago, came in the flesh on a journey of PURPOSE.  He came that He might ‘Redeem, Reconcile and Restore’ mankind to God. Even though God, He recognized quickly the importance of accomplishing His Purpose and so everything He did was a step towards fulfilling destiny.

His wasn’t a journey in futility, it was one that had meaning and even though His living a meaningful life culminated with his death on the cross, it was for that reason He came and didn’t try to find another purpose for Himself!

Which is why while we merry, it will be important to not just have the Manger in view, let us remember that the Manger only has an essence because of the cross!  The Manger is useless without the cross.  Even your own dream cannot be worth the while until you take up your own cross and finish that which you have started! 

Back to the desperation with which people deal in this season, I can understand that we all want to end the year as successes and we all want to say we cleaned out good.  But at whose expense will this be?  To whom are we selling dust as gold? To who are will trying to sell their own birthright? Just who have we promised magic in a bottle? What is with the weight loss magic in two days?  Enough of the gimmicks and e-marketing already!!!

To those who are buying and scouting for a bargain, remember that the journey for this year started twelve months earlier, and if you have not been able to lose the projected weight in this time, no magic formula will do it now.  It doesn’t make you a failure, just gives you a reason to take up your cross in the New Year and ensure that you finish strong. 

The birth of our Lord and Saviour is about His death, it is about His finishing… and it is a journey. Your life and dream is a journey too, and you will celebrate and have others celebrate with you, if you finish!  You will make it, even with the curves and the hitches along the way.  Just as Jesus focused on the cross and He made it NevertheLess, you will too, if you understand that the end of a thing is better than the beginning.

A quick shout out to my latest Sister Bola Essien-Nelson (Of Diary of a Desperate Naija Woman), you are loved and appreciated!

To you all here is my Christmas message. ‘Beyond the celebrations, may you experience for yourself the WHY of the birth, may you align to the gains and may you utilize the opportunity therein. Merry Christmas. You are loved and appreciated.

You will make it! NeverTheLess!

Hugs

Bidemi