I walked by a crib on Christmas Eve. There was a lone tear in the eye of the plastic Babe in the Manger, “They aren’t celebrating my birthday Bob. Nobody knows what Christmas is about at all! They lay my wax figure in a plastic manger, put in some donkeys, a camel and that poor cow around me, Santa saying ho, ho, and is that my birthday?”
The plastic donkey, the cow and the camel glared at me from the little crib where they had been put, year after year. “What then is Christmas?” I asked slowly.
The Babe in the Manger looked at me, and suddenly His little face burst out in a smile that filled the plastic crib and all around, “Christmas, Bob, is the celebration of me coming down to earth! It is about a God above, sad that even though he created man to talk and walk with him, in the end he could not talk and walk with men!”
“Why not?” I asked.
“Because God is pure, and man isn’t! A pure God can’t walk with a wicked man, till either man becomes pure or bears punishment for his wickedness, so I was sent down to earth to be born in a manger, then to be killed as a punishment for your wickedness. Christmas is the celebration of God’s love for you Bob!”
“Not Santa, not shopping!” I mused.
“It is the story of a Babe who came to earth so he could grow up and die, just so God and man could walk together again!”
I looked at the many Santas in display windows and sitting in malls. “Looks like we’ve got it all wrong!” I said slowly.
“God sent me, His beloved son that whoever believes in Me will not die Bob, but have everlasting life!” said the little Babe in the manger.
“And you still want your Santa?” asked the camel sternly, his hump a bobbing.
“Mankind received the greatest gift on Christmas,” said the cow, “And you don’t even want Him?”
“I am your Christmas present,” said the Babe in the manger simply, “Accept me and walk with God!”
I knelt on the cold floor, near the plastic animals, and prayed to a God above, “Thank you for loving us so much that you gifted us your Son on Christmas Day, so many years ago!” I whispered and felt a deep sense of peace envelope me.
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Robert Clements is a newspaper columnist and writes a daily column, which has graced the pages of over 60 newspapers and magazines, from a daily column in the Khaleej Times, Dubai, the Morning Star, London, and in nearly every state in India, from The Statesman in Kolkata, to the Kashmir Times in Kashmir to the Trinity Mirror in Chennai.
Beautiful article,Bobby. I’m sad to find that God takes a backseat at Christmas and there’s an anticlimax after New Year’s Day since the activities of dancing and merry making are over Immanuel is with us. ‘Pray without ceasing, ‘ He says.
Amen ???? Wonderful article. Christmas is about Christ! And surely not about Santa. It’s so sad that Christmas has been so commercialised that if you ask a non Christian on the street if they know what Christmas is about, they often say it is about Santa Clause or the Christmas tree. May we begin by changing ourselves first and then getting out the message to others as well. God bless you.
The little sweet Babe reaching out his hands to us. Even just standing silently in front of him brings so much peace n joy. That’s what really matters.