I was just thinking back on the Christmases we spent on the mission field in Brazil. They were, by far, the hardest times for me, especially in the earlier years. This came as a shock, because all my life Christmas had been a happy and uplifting time of year.
Like most, I had grown up with a lot of great Christmas traditions, most of which I had continued throughout my adult life. But finding myself in a different world, void of nearly all the things that surrounded my Christmases, I was rather depressed. All the props were gone. There were few decorations to speak of. Hardly anyone put up outdoor lights, and Christmas trees were scarce. There were few Christmas carols sung at church. No radio stations played favorite Christmas songs. It was hot, and there was certainly no Jack Frost nipping at my nose, only sweat dripping from it. No red sweaters with snow flakes or snuggy clothes to wear. There were no football bowls or NFL playoff games to watch, only soccer. People didn’t say “Merry Christmas”, but instead said, “Feliz Natal!” And of course, there was only my immediate family with me, everyone else was back home.
Over the seasons my lack of “Christmas spirit” made me realize how dependent I was on all of these things I associated with Christmas. Of course, I’d heard all of the talk before about understanding “the true meaning of Christmas,” and I knew that I indeed did understand the significance of Christ’s birth, both for mankind and my own life. But those Brazilian Christmases taught me that my focus was on HOW I celebrated Christmas instead of WHY I celebrated Christmas. It didn’t seem like Christmas because the HOW had been ripped right out from under me ,and I was left with nothing but the bare WHY.
So first I had to relearn that the WHY is sufficient. The WHY is the only true reason we can be joyful and triumphant. The next lesson was that the HOW is merely a response to the significance of the WHY, and not a source of joy in itself. Once those hard lessons were learned I discovered that the joy of the WHY can be expressed through many types of HOWs. That’s when I began to learn and accept new HOWs.
My new HOWs began new traditions for me and my family. We shared Christmas with our adopted ”family” composed of missionary colleagues and Brazilian friends. We ate a lot of “Panetone” bread and “Chester” (a type of super chicken), and had a very white Christmas on the Brazilian beaches. We went to church at ten PM on Christmas Eve, worshipped until twelve, and then shared a midnight fellowship meal with our Brazilian Baptist brethren. It definitely was not the same, but it eventually became Christmas to me.
My reason for telling you all this is, first of all, to remind you to pray for our missionaries that are most likely going through similar adjustments at this time of year.
Second, I hope to challenge you to evaluate your HOW, and make sure it’s not overshadowing the WHY you celebrate Christmas. Because what I learned was that HOWs can change, but nothing can change the WHY. Remember, only the WHY bears the true joy for your life. The HOW is like wearing a wedding ring. It’s meaningless without the WHY, the union it represents.
Third, I thought there might be someone that, like my Brazilian Christmases, finds yourself in a situation which has stripped you of your HOW. Perhaps a family member won’t be present this year, or the weather is uncharacteristically warm. Maybe finances have reduced your ability to do or buy some things you usually do or buy. It can be anything that causes you to think, “It just doesn’t seem like Christmas this year.” That’s a sure sign you are confusing the HOW with the WHY.
Reclaim the WHY of Christmas in your life and let the joy it generates be expressed in your HOW, whatever that is for you this year.
Merry Christmas!
