I’ve been thinking about the business of Christmas… why we celebrate it and where it came from.

Please understand, I’m not kidding…

It looks as if the early Christian church was looking for a way to compete with the pagan celebration of Saturnalia – a month-long festival that honored the god of agriculture, Saturn. Apparently, during Saturnalia (are you laughing at this word yet?) there was also a group of Romans who celebrated the birth of a sun god named Mithra (who was born from a rock). Mithra’s birthday was December 25.

Bottom line… A fourth century Pope set 12.25 as the day the Christian church would celebrate the birth of Jesus (a day that wasn’t celebrated until that point).

History.com has it laid out nicely beginning here.

Now… I bring this to our attention because I don’t like going through the motions (none of us do).

I believe our focus every day should be on loving our people. But what exactly does that mean?

• It means we need to give ourselves to the people around us more (giving them our attention and care).
• It means we need to help end someone’s suffering when we can (and then look for more opportunities).
• It means we need to be kind, compassionate, and patient.
• It means we need to be truthful, forgiving, and humble.
• It means we need to enjoy the hospitality and gifts of others.
• It means we need to be thankful.
• It means we need to connect (really).
• It means we need to be attentive and engaged with our work (to how we contribute).

To me… all of these holidays we celebrate allow us to more often compartmentalize our gratitude and care rather than encourage it to be a part of our daily lives (missing out on a daily celebration that might otherwise exist).

At Christmastime, we embrace getting together more and giving gifts to each other (things) yet at the same time complain about the busyness (and business) behind it all, changing nothing year after year. (“Let’s get together after the holidays when everything settles down.”) Then we go into a New Year, pausing and reflecting at certain points over certain things dictated by our federal holiday calendars and those of our chosen faiths (and remember, a belief that there isn’t a god is also a faith).

But in our day-to-day (the bulk of our time here) opportunities for care (love), will we be awake enough not to go through the motions and make a positive difference to others whenever (wherever) we can?

Can we remember (more often) that we’re here for each other – that that good feeling we get more often around our winter holiday of choice comes from a love that we can (and should) have every day?

“But then it won’t be special.”  (special: being other than the usual)

Wouldn’t that be great.

12.25 is arbitrary. Merry Today.

(Valentine’s Day? You can’t handle the truth.)

Love Your People.

Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart by Gordon Livingston

I’m into my second time through and was completely smoved by these words from Gordon…

“This tension between simplicity and effort works itself out in our daily lives. If we believe in the sudden transformation, the big score, we are less likely to pursue the harder and less immediately satisfying work of becoming the people we wish to be.

So here’s to the role of time, patience, and reflection in our lives. If we believe it is better to build than destroy, better to live and let live, better to be than to be seen, then we might have a chance, slowly, to find a satisfying way through life, this flicker of consciousness between two great silences.”

Let’s encourage each other more.

(168 pages | serious | quick read – but not really because you’re going to reflect more)

The car in front of me on the way home from the office last night…

This morning after I finished my coffee (I’m not kidding… no special effects… that’s the way it dried out)…

Now, I just need to figure out how it all ties in to the screaming cheerio.