25 Thoughts on “A Christmas Carol” – December 16th

Happy Christmas Dear Reader

“'What Idol has displaced you?' he rejoined.
'A golden one.'
'This is the even-handed dealing of the world.' he said. 'There is nothing on which it is so hard as poverty; and there is nothing it professes to condemn with such severity as the pursuit of wealth!'
'You fear the world too much,' she answered, gently. 'All your other hopes have merged into the hope of being beyond the chance of its sordid reproach. I have seen your nobler aspirations fall off one by one, until the master-passion, Gain, engrosses you. Have I not?'”

Oh that we could catch Scrooge at this moment and arrest his progress toward greed and a miserly nature. What if we could stop his march here and now? He could Bell’s forgiveness and become the man he is destined to become anyway. Alas we cannot.

We can, however, learn from Ebenezer’s failure. We can realize that we all have idols that prevent us from being all that we can be to each other. We replace compassion and generosity with greed. We forbear showing love to worship bitterness. We think of what we do not have instead of counting our current blessings. We fear not having so we hold on to wealth instead of releasing it to bless the lives of others.

What has bitterness and greed cost me over my lifetime? The love of others whom I love is absent. The peaceful companionship of some family is elusive because I lived by my fears instead of my faith. Like Scrooge I have feared the world too much and allowed my choices to cause harm as a result. Too high is the price of not walking daily in the spirit of Christ that should haunt us Christmas day and every day. It should not merely haunt but should posses us so fully that others think us drunk or mad.

Tomorrow we begin our walk with the Ghost of Christmas present. But for today, a tear fall as I take a final look at Christmas past and know that I did good but could have done better.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn
Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a home owner. He brings new and old things out of his treasure store."