Why We Need Christmas

With so much tragedy throughout the year - from floods and typhoons to a volcano about to erupt, massacres and kidnappings – one can be forgiven for asking what is there to celebrate. Indeed the human condition is frail, as nature and the media constantly remind us.

Even without these constant reminders, we encounter in our everyday lives our shortcomings and those of others, our mortality - and the heartaches these imperfections bring to others and to ourselves.

Yet Christmas reminds us that despite our shortcomings, we are loved. That we are more than the sum of our mistakes and imperfections. You may not buy the whole religious reason for Christmas, that Somebody cared enough for you to take the trouble to be born in a manger. But this act of love is too big not to spread around and this kindness and warmth make us feel bigger than our heartaches.

Christmas also gives us the chance to look beyond the shortcomings and imperfections of others. It asks us to forget our disappointments and for once look at what is good in people and the world. It gives us a chance to be bigger than ourselves.

Christmas makes us get in touch with our being human, yet allows us to be bigger than our humanity.

That is worth celebrating.