Thought for the
Week - 20th December 2007
'BE NEAR ME LORD
JESUS, I ASK THEE TO STAY, CLOSE BY ME FOREVER, AND LOVE ME
I PRAY...'
 More
and more people are losing their minds! It is a fact.
There are more increasing numbers of us suffering from forms
of dementia.
Unfortunately, the
spectre of 'madness' from the past still appears to have a
hold over the present, and many people are ashamed to admit
that their relatives are suffering from mental health
problems. How often have you heard someone try to cover up
for the fact that they have forgotten an appointment or an
invitation and blaming it on 'having too many things to
think about'. The truth is, it was one thought we didn't
have amongst many we probably shouldn't have had!
Surprisingly,
thoughtlessness
seems to have a season. It is always in December and around
about Christmas time!
If you don't believe me,
try this simple test. Ask yourself these questions. Why do
people crowd into the shops and spend lots of money without
any thought as to where it is coming from, until perhaps the
credit card bill arrives? Why do people swarm through
supermarkets in the two days before Christmas and strip the
shelves almost bare, buying food that they will probably
never eat? Why do some people suddenly
make up their differences
with others,
when they haven't spoken a word to them during the past
twelve months? Why do people suddenly go to church to
Midnight Mass when they haven't been near a church since
last Christmas Eve? There seems to be a distinct lack of
thinking involved in all these situations.
Christmas is in itself
a time beyond reason.
It is a time when our thoughtless activity is eclipsed by
divine thoughtfulness, when God sent his Son into a world
which had forgotten him. What God
the Father did is neither rational nor reasonable. The
Father knew the cost and still God entered our frail
humanity and our 'thoughtless' world. His protection was
provided by a young girl and a man almost too ashamed to be
her husband.
Children are warned to 'be good' at Christmas' or Father
Christmas won't come! Christmas isn't a time to be good, it
is a time to 'be God'.
Jesus Christ became
a human being that we might have the greatest gift - to
become like God himself. Whatever 'thoughts' we may not
have at Christmas, there is a Word that we should never
forget, because what He remembers of His experience in our
human flesh is why he wants all of us to grow in His
likeness.
My favourite Christmas carol is
Away in a Manger,
although I can hardly ever sing it all the way through to
the end without feeling upset and sometimes unable to sing
some of the words. At Midnight Mass we sing
the carol kneeling and I am probably effected most by the
lines,
'be near me Lord Jesus, I
ask thee to stay, close by me for ever, and love me I pray
... When we are are
thoughtless, there is someone who
loves us just for who we are, whether we are 'mad' or sad,
ashamed, selfish, rude or unforgiving, whose only wish is
that we should be like Him, and who can only see us as the
people He wants us to be.
Please have a
God Christmas,
full of love and hope and, I hope, for you, it is a
good Christmas
too.
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