[dropcap]C[/dropcap]hristmas is just round the corner and many of us, if not all, must be gearing up with different plans on how to celebrate this Christmas. As a kid we grew up expecting gifts from our parents during this season in the form of clothes, candy, toys and other playing stuffs. We still expect things from our parents though the perspective might have changed overtime; the child in us seems to be still the same craving for different things from people around us.
The recent visit of Prime Minister Narandra Modi to Nagaland was humorously compared to that Santa Claus on Christmas Eve, highly applauded with great expectation. Many of the Nagas expected him to bring some good news to the on-going peace process, but nothing of that sort happened and many of the passionate Nagas were left disappointed. On the other hand the spirit and attitudes of the Nagas were badly criticized by different people wading through the media wrap-ups, stating that Nagas should learn to be more pragmatic and self-respecting nation, and not go gaga over high profile visitors. It should have been treated as just another head of state passing through, and not as that of a Santa Claus on his sledge who would shower gifts. Many a times we tend to wait on certain powerful people to do good things for us and get disappointed, like the Nagas who have been disappointed recently, at times we also wait upon certain thing with wrong motives and when things does not happen in the way we want, we tend to complain. In the similar vein even in our Christian life, a similar fate can be upon us if we wait and expect apart from the Lord.Today, if we look around, the perspective of Christmas celebration wears completely a different look, the concept of first Christmas is slowly turning out to be a distant memory. The festival which supposed to be celebrating the birth of Christ, the gift of love and the plan of redemption seem to have little relevance, as the pendulum of celebration drastically swing towards festivity rather than dwelling on the meaning and purpose of celebration. The commercial industry is partly to be blame for making Christmas a massive event of shopping, coercing people to embrace the deviated meaning of Christmas to meet their ends, advertising their product in such a way that Christmas would be incomplete without owning their products. For instance, the concept of Christmas tree, Christmas stars, Santa Claus etc. have taken the centre stage of the celebration, making us believed that Christmas is incomplete without these stuffs, and somehow we have become a victim of this project.
Christmas wasn’t about digging so deep into our bank accounts or savings. But Christmas is turning out to be a burden for many, as compel to meet certain expectations around, and in turn many would be left with huge debts. And the saddest part is that, even after several months of celebration, many would be still trying to shovel out ways and means to repay the debts that they have borrowed for Christmas celebration. Many a times we think a well celebrated Christmas is all about having new clothes, lots of meat, well organised gatherings wherein, we get all sort of entertainments. Well, I am not completely against the idea of material celebration but focusing too much on feasting and other materialistic entertainment would certainly kill the purpose of celebration. And I think it’s important on our part to lend a serious thought on the evolving trend of Christmas celebration!
We also have a tendency of always expecting on others to do good things for us and not willing to act on our part. But as we all wait to celebrate this Christmas, I feel our perspective towards celebrating Christmas should change from childlike attitudes, always expecting and waiting on God to bring gifts, but learn to imitate God in giving gifts to others, as He has gifted us with the gift of hope and love. So, this Christmas as we prepare to celebrate let’s make sure that we prepare in the right spirit and wait on the Lord who will never disappoint us, like the things of the world has disappointed. Wishing you all a blessed Christmas!
Wungnaongam Pou
