This after-Christmas writing was inspired by reading “The Christmas Candle” by Richard Paul Evans (1998). It’s a timeless story of a sour young man given a unique Christmas candle to light his way home. On his way home, he meets up with an old beggar, but when he lifts his candle to see her better, he sees that she is his mother and gives his cloak to her to keep her warm.

Once he lowers his candle, he again considers the woman a beggar. This experience repeats itself until the last time, when approached by a small child asking for food, he refuses to lift his candle and give in to the trickery of the candle.

He turns down the child’s request and continues to his family, where upon seeing them, surrounded by food and warmth, symbols of love, he understands the lesson of the candle. Allow the love in our hearts to be the light that lights our journey through life, the acknowledgment that we are all family.

We flourish when we feed off of love. Its power never diminishes but grows with use. Believing in love is seeing and seeing with our eyes, feeling with our hearts that the gift of the first Christmas was love, and is renewed each year when we celebrate Christmas. We are directed to keep it close to us all through the year, every day, long after Dec. 25th has passed.

Christmas 2023, as with every Christmas season, teaches us that love is not only the first but also the best gift. Numerous lessons within the Christmas story of the birth of Jesus offer this lesson. Many of these lessons are seen only with the heart.

For instance, an angel with many angels appears to the shepherds in a field, watching over the sheep with only a campfire, creating an energy of light that fills the nighttime sky. They were probably scared initially, but the angel told them not to be afraid. They overcome their fear to believe and follow the angel’s instruction to find baby Jesus.

They have no guiding star, map, or GPS, yet they know in their hearts, supported by their knowledge and training, that they will find the baby in a manger in Bethlehem, wrapped in swaddling clothes. Remember that Bethlehem was packed with folks there to pay their taxes. Which one would think would lessen the odds of finding Joseph, Mary, and Jesus, yet love, in the form of faith, pushes them forth.

The shepherds saw with their hearts and believed – the same way Joseph and Mary were guided through the months of pregnancy and the heralded birth.

Love is love is love. Love isn’t about the color of our skin, our gender, or if we are robbers or lovers. Love is not subject to distractions or distinctions. Love is our “why”. It helps us see others without judgment – even those who have hurt us. The experience of love is the action we put forth. See its perfection.

Love is how the universe breathes.

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