The Real Meaning of Christmas
by Henry Van Dyke
There is a better thing than the observance of Christmas day, and that is, keeping Christmas.
Are you willing to forget what you have done for other people, and to remember what other people have done for you; to ignore what the world owes you, and to think what you owe the world;....to see that your fellowmen are just as real as you are, and to try to look behind their faces to their hearts, hungry for joy;...to close your book of complaints against the management of the universe, and look around for a place where you can sow a few seeds of happiness--are you willing to do these things, even for a day? Then you can keep Christmas.
Are you willing to stoop down and consider the needs and desires of little children; to remember the weakness and loneliness of people who are growing old; to stop asking how much your friends love you, and ask yourself whether you love them enough; to trim your lamp so that it will give more light and less smoke, and to carry it in front so that your shadow will fall behind you...
Are you willing to believe that love is the strongest thing in the world--stronger than hate, stronger than evil, stronger than death--and that the blessed life which began in Bethlehem nineteen hundred years ago is the image and brightness of the Eternal Love? Then you can keep Christmas.
And if you keep it for a day, why not always?
But you can never keep it alone.
by Henry Van Dyke
There is a better thing than the observance of Christmas day, and that is, keeping Christmas.
Are you willing to forget what you have done for other people, and to remember what other people have done for you; to ignore what the world owes you, and to think what you owe the world;....to see that your fellowmen are just as real as you are, and to try to look behind their faces to their hearts, hungry for joy;...to close your book of complaints against the management of the universe, and look around for a place where you can sow a few seeds of happiness--are you willing to do these things, even for a day? Then you can keep Christmas.
Are you willing to stoop down and consider the needs and desires of little children; to remember the weakness and loneliness of people who are growing old; to stop asking how much your friends love you, and ask yourself whether you love them enough; to trim your lamp so that it will give more light and less smoke, and to carry it in front so that your shadow will fall behind you...
Are you willing to believe that love is the strongest thing in the world--stronger than hate, stronger than evil, stronger than death--and that the blessed life which began in Bethlehem nineteen hundred years ago is the image and brightness of the Eternal Love? Then you can keep Christmas.
And if you keep it for a day, why not always?
But you can never keep it alone.
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