Our Grown-up Christmas List

Christmas is in the air again. You’ll feel it as you
snuggle beneath the sheets of your bed, in the cold
breeze that greets you in the early morning, in the
Christmas lights decorating your neighborhood, the
gleeful sound of caroling coming from children and the
Simbang Gabi. It’s surely the Christmas season.

We can’t resist singing our favorite lines from the
Amy Grant song ‘My Grown-Up Christmas List’
whenever the Christmas Season approaches . . .

No more lives torn apart,
That wars would never start,
And time will heal all hearts.
And everyone would have a friend
And right would always win,
And love would never end . . .

How heartwarming this Christmas song is. It
touched us so much. This song is truly relevant for these days.
When we are young, it is the innocence of
childhood which lives within us. Now, as we learn more about life,
the realities unfold one by one: the social
concerns which need to be focused on and the call for our attention
and action to answer these problems.

How disheartening it is to see families starving, a street child begging
for money and people infected with
incurable diseases. In this season where the world rejoices
at the birth of the Lord, some of our brothers and
sisters are crying out for help, feeling abandoned and lost.
This should be a season of hope but hope is impossible
for them. We believe that as Christians, we must take a step
in letting the true meaning of Christmas live in
everyone’s heart. We can do it in our life through charitable works
for the poor, feeding the hungry and letting
love be felt by those who need it most.

The true meaning of Christmas can be felt if there is love and
we are the ones who must spread it as Children
of God. May we take a big step and let the Christmas
Spirit take over our hearts. To live in peace and harmony,
in love and faith in God. Beyond all those lights, Christmas
carols, gifts . . . we believe there is more in store for
us. It’s not difficult for us to be united as one for we know
that deep within each one of us is a will to end all this
pain and sorrow. Let Jesus enter in our hearts and let him grow
within us . . . especially in this season of our
Savior’s birth.

. . . This is our grown-up Christmas list.