Spiritual lessons from "A Christmas Carol," Part one

  The Dickens’ story, “A Christmas Carol” is secular, certainly, but in watching it every year, I realize it has very edifying spiritual wisdom and lessons. For these next three days prior to Christmas I thought I'd share what God has shown me through this story...

Let’s start by tweaking the story a bit by turning the ghosts into angels who accompany Mr. Scrooge on his Christmas Eve journey.  The first angel takes Scrooge on a trip through his past.  By witnessing events of his past, he can begin to understand how he came to be the person he is now.  He is so wounded by the fact that his father “bears him a grudge,” no wonder he is bitter and crabby!  Seeing that is illuminating enough, but then seeing how loving his sister is, the goodness of his apprenticeship and how happily he was surrounded by loving people, he sees how far he has come from that happiness. He had experienced joy in his life, but it was long ago and the choices he made pushed the joy even further away.  By seeing the woman that he loved and yet rejected, he can see how his own actions determined his sad fate. By visiting his past in a safe and loving presence (the angel), could he learn from those mistakes? If we do not learn from past mistakes, aren’t we doomed to repeat them?  If we can grab a wee period of silent reflection this week, can we sit with God and think about our Christmases past? Where was God in those times of joy? Of disappointment?  What can we learn? Love, heidi