Candy Canes or Curdled Eggnog?

“To whistle a Christmas carol is like a candy cane to the tongue, to mutter “Bah! Humbug!” is like drinking curdled eggnog.” – Life Proverbs by Tim

One of our classic Christmas stories is A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens of Ebenezer Scrooge, the sour, stingy, cold-hearted man. His retort to the merriness around him at Christmas was “Bah! Humbug!” A statement that Christmas was a fraud and full of nonsense. As the classic tale unfolds through the visitations of Marley his deceased business partner, and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future he sees the futility and emptiness of his own life and has a “conversion” to the merriness of Christmas. The final scene is his emphatic embrace of “Merry Christmas!” I think of the wisdom of Solomon when he states:

A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance, but by sorrow of the heart a spirit is broken. – Proverbs 15:13 NKJV

Other versions state a happy or glad heart makes a cheerful face. We can visibly see the deep emotions one is experiencing by their countenance. Even when we do our best to cover-up or mask what is tumbling inside of us, we still reveal our feelings to those who know us best.

For you this Christmas season, is it a time of “Merry Christmas”, or “Bah! Humbug!”? You may not look or act like Ebenezer Scrooge, but in your current circumstances the burdens, frustrations, anxiety, or disappointment of life may echo a lifeless “Bah! Humbug!” in your heart. If that is you, I would encourage you that Christmas is more than family get-togethers, gifts, shopping, eggnog, Santa, elves, etc., but true merriness comes from Christ alone. The miraculous gift of Christ the child, born unto a virgin, the son of God, called Immanuel – God with us. With Christ as our Savior we can whistle, hum or sing Christmas Carols year round, because it is His true joy in our lives that fills our hearts with merriness through all life’s journeys. Try singing Joy to The World with a sour, stingy, cold-heart – it doesn’t work.

As we offer a blessing of “Merry Christmas” to family, friends, co-workers, or the cashier at Target let them see it with a confidence in our eyes, an encouraging smile and Christ’s joy upon our face. Merry Christmas! (my eyes are twinkling and I am smiling right now)