If you are like me, you wish the spell of Christmas would linger a little longer. As I get older, that spell has come to have a new meaning. The true gift of Christmas is the reminder of the real meaning of Jesus’ birth. He came to show us the path back to our final union with God. Not an easy journey, but a simple one.
The Bible repeatedly reminds us that God is within each of us and always with us. Jesus reminded the Pharisees, “…the kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:20-21) and “I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” (Matthew 28:20)
Edgar Cayce reminds us in several readings that the Christ pattern is within each one of us. It was put there at the moment of our creation. To experience it, we:
...need to seek to experience what such an advent meant or means to our life as an individual.
-- Edgar Cayce reading 262-103
The possibility of acting, thinking, and loving like Jesus is in our genes, deep down in our consciousness, in our need to love and be loved. The message from the Bible is clear—it’s all about learning to love. And the pattern, the ideal, lies within us. As we follow this pattern, our love is born again. Each time it becomes a little more personal in my heart and yours.
The Jesus pattern begins to awaken as the music of the season plays its message of love over and over again. Accepting others seems easier as the love vibration moves through the air we breathe—it contains the “messiah.” The carols and other deep compositions hopefully make it easier to love, even if just for the moment.
The Christmas story becomes more intimate and more my story as the years go by. Loving becomes easier—whether it is loving God or loving my brothers or sisters—for we are all one family. Everyone has that Jesus pattern planted within them; which makes them ultimately loveable. The Cayce readings remind us,
For as you behold the face of your friend, of your neighbor, of your foe, even your enemy, you behold the image of your Savior.
-- Edgar Cayce reading 262-103
Sometimes we get stuck or confused and maybe we don’t seem so loveable. Sometimes we deviate from the path and appear difficult to love. But realizing that the pattern is always there is the least that we can do. By taking the time to stop and get quiet, we can remember, and the feeling will become real again. We can try to see this pattern in those who are being difficult. We can remind ourselves that they are helping us to grow. We can choose to focus on the beautiful pattern that lies within all of us, just waiting to be recognized.
There are so many ways we get help with this, especially during the holidays. There are the high musical vibrations, the word and the truth in the Scriptures, the example of the life of Mary, Jesus, and even the choir of angels who proclaimed His birth.
The fulfillment, the afterglow, of holidays is the growing realization that each new day can be December 25. Every morning we wake with the assurance that the Jesus pattern within us is real. We can decide daily to start with the angels singing “Glory to God in the Highest.” Jesus foretold that we would do greater things than his miracles. “Whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these…” (John 14:12)
Help the spell of Christmas linger a little longer by acknowledging the divinity within and choosing to use power to be a co-creator with God, to grow more like Jesus. The true gift of Christmas—and each day—is the possibility of acting, thinking, and loving like Jesus. The pattern, the ideal, lies within.
Excerpted from the Oct-Dec 2017 Venture Inward magazine.
