Christmas--and Memories to Your Children

At Christmas there is so much intermingled – children – innocence, expectancy;

loved ones – homecoming, happiness and mellow moods; generosity in remarkable

measure, and some emerging of our better selves – sometimes loneliness and serious

concerns – all intermixed with a measure of forgiving and forgetting – and with

memories from all past years that merge and mingle with the present moment.

Oh, parents, we would plead, give good and happy memories to your children –

not pampering or overindulging, not satisfying everything they take a fancy to – but

memories of love, encouragement, of peace and harmony and happiness at home –

memories that will bless and lift their lives wherever they are, always and forever.

Well, swiftly now it comes and goes, and so does life. Oh, let us live it with

repentance and improvement, with mind and heart and spirit – along with all the tangibles

that are so much in evidence.

And one could not, of course, conceive of Christmas without Him whose coming it

commemorates: the Prince of Peace, the Son of God, concerning whom we witness that

He lives, from deep within the certainty of our souls, even as Job said: “I know that my

Redeemer liveth.”

Oh, may we not forget at any time what God has given, or overemphasize the

troubles of our time, but go with patience, gratitude and faith into the future,

remembering from Longfellow these hopeful, moving lines:

I heard the bells on Christmas day

Their old familiar carols play;

And wild and sweet the words repeat

Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And in despair I bowed my head:

“There is no peace on earth,” I said

For hate is strong and mocks the song

Of peace on earth, good will to men,

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:

“God is not dead, nor doth he sleep;

The wrong shall fail the right prevail,

With peace on earth, good will to men.”²