Freelance Columnist
opinion
At this time, we often see newspaper articles about stress and Christmas. People are warned not to set up unrealistic expectations about how much they want to get done, or about how they will get along with relatives they only see once or twice a year.
But most articles reflect a “how to do it” attitude. They say if you set up your schedule correctly, do only what you have to do, and watch yourself carefully, then you’ll get through the holiday season relatively unscathed.
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There’s a big difference between experiencing and just “doing” something.
In the cafeteria at Old Faithful Geyser in Yellowstone National Park, I once talked to tourists who had driven in that morning. They planned to “do” Yellowstone in one day.
But you don’t “do” Yellowstone, you experience it. You wander around and enjoy what is happening, rather than being anxious whether a geyser will erupt when they think it will. You let the experience of the park soak into you, rather than running around trying to soak up as much as you can in a short period of time.
Doing and experiencing
Going to an exhibition or Agribition is the same. You can spot those who are “doing” it at a glance. They fly by the booths, seldom stopping, at best slowing down to a crawl, before they move on to the next area.
In contrast, those who experience it stop, talk and seldom look at their watches. They become involved in it, or more correctly let the event involve itself with them.
Stopping, talking, having coffee, sharing, risking and being open to the event with your eyes, your ears, your thoughts, your emotions, and even with your soul, is what experiencing something is all about.
It’s easy to do Christmas parties, the social visiting and the family rituals and obligations at Christmas. It’s tiring, but most of us manage to get through it. But is that really experiencing Christmas? Does that involve you with what Christmas is all about?
New birth
Whether you take Christmas scriptures as literal truth, or as stories containing an immensely important truth within them, Christmas is about newness of life, a newness of a relationship with that power which we may call by the name of God, Creator, Allah or Lord.
It’s about being called to become involved in a new relationship, to experience a new birth. Christmas calls us to a newness in our relationship with the world, with all those who live in it, especially those we know personally and family members, and especially with ourselves.
If you try to “do” Christmas, you miss out on that relationship. By being busy trying to fulfil social obligations, you don’t experience the true purpose and meaning of Christmas. Christmas isn’t a jigsaw puzzle to be solved. It has to be tasted and experienced.
For this, we must slow down, look around ourselves, reflect and meditate and accept the real gifts of Christmas, those of life, purpose, caring and a commitment to work to make our world one of peace and joy. Perhaps we are called at Christmas to be human beings instead of human “doings.”
With nationalistic tendencies through the world, even in our own country, this may seem difficult. Good things don’t happen quickly, as we know. It’s 2,000 years since the world experienced what we’re still struggling to understand and to be.
A merry and hopeful Christmas to all who continue with that struggle and journey.
