Poetry

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A CHRISTMAS ECCLESIASTES
c2000 by Kay Adkins. All rights reserved.

1. Vanity! Vanity! Is Christmas all vanity?
I went to the malls and I saw the insanity!
Tinsel and Santas and trees on display
Start the seasonal chanting before Labor Day!
“Buy early! Buy now and avoid the crowds.”
The time passes quickly, it’s gone like a cloud.

“Here’s my Christmas list, mom.
It’s not too long this year.
Just some gift cards to all the cool places—I fear
That if I let you choose what your heart wants to give,
I’ll get nothing that shows you respect how I live.
And I do have an image I want to maintain,
So just show me your love with some cash in my hand.”

I try to please all, but I can’t do enough.
Like a raging fire, vanity only has ‘wants’.

2. Gone like a vapor, is Christmas just brevity?
Mere tokens of fondness and niceties and levity?
We must be polite to the relatives now--
If we don’t, we’ll erupt a volcano (and how!)
Even though there’s no contact for months at a time,
We schmooze and we mingle, we wine and we dine.
We talk superficially—sports, kids, cars and clothes;
Not looking to make a connection with those
That God placed in our lives to help, love and to cheer;
To lean on and count on and care for as dear.
We spend precious moments just hoping we’ll get
Chances to tout our accomplishments.

But, if not, we withdraw to our corner until
The brief season is gone, and we go home—unfilled.


3. Meaningless, meaningless! Is Christmas for naught?
The food, decorations and presents we bought
Thrill our senses but don’t add much depth to our lives;
Only pounds to our weight and fat to our thighs.
They increase our debt and our credit card bills,
Decreasing our doldrums with diversional “pills”-
Like video games, which create an addiction
(That “light box” is sucking up ALL our attention!)

We hear now that not only “X-mas” is good,
Now Kwaanza and Hanukkah are commercialized too!
And those discontent with their family’s tradition
Choose their own celebration without inhibition.

It all gets combined—one big ”Holiday Season.”
Just jump in and party. You don’t need a reason!

4. “Vain, meaningless, brief”—is that what it’s about?
I thought as much, until I chanced to find out.
Forcing Christmas to squeeze in my tight narrow mold
Was the curse I had placed on our Christmas, so cold.
I cried, “No more curse! I want blessing instead!
How O God, can my Christmas be reverently kept?
With the ways of the world always right in my face!
I am weak, co-dependent. I can’t win this race!”

“My daughter,” He spoke in His strong gentle way,
“My Son was My Love gift that first Christmas Day.
Now My Son lives in you, and My Love does as well.”

“But, Father, I try! And I fail, and I fail!”

“Oh child, think on Me then, and not on yourself.
And you’ll know when and how to share My Christmas wealth.”


5. And the promise The Father made to me was true!
I listened and waited—like the Grinch, my heart grew,
And at times unexpected, I shared my Lord’s Love
In true ways that I never could have dreamed of.
A talk with a stranger, a shared plate of food;
A choice to set free one I held tightly to.

So, Christmas is Fullness and Blessing and Joy
When God guides your heart to those He seeks to love.
I learned it is all about giving a gift;
A gift from His heart to give others a lift.
For that is what Jesus did so long ago
When He died on the cross for our sins, you know.

Now most all has been said, here’s the gist of the matter:
Love God with your Christmas. Then, Christmas won’t shatter!

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