Have yourself a Sisyphean Christmas

It's that time of year... again!   Time to put up the lights, put up the tree, put up the decorations, fight the crowds, buy the presents, make food for parties, wrap the presents, eat food that's bad for you, decorate the house, listen to constant Christmas music, hear old favorite Christmas songs mangled by hosts of new "singers" on the radio/TV who have to put their own special spin on them, watch Christmas "specials" that seem to have very little to do with the holiday, .....etc.etc.etc.   Then when it's all over, put all the decorations away, pay all the credit card bills and wait until NEXT year when you get to do it ALL OVER AGAIN!


    For me, I sometimes feel like the Greek mythological person, King Sisyphus.  Sisyphus angered the gods (especially Zeus) for his idea that he was smarter and more clever than them. As punishment for his egotistical attitude, Sisyphus is made to push a boulder up a hill in Hades every morning, and just when he is about to get the boulder all the way up, it begins to roll back down the hill under its own weight and making him start all over again. Thus, this is where we get the word, Sisyphean, which means: "a fruitless endeavor".


    Maybe I am just getting older, but this year I am finding it very difficult to find the strength to push this "boulder" up the hill again. (do you feel like that too?).  And, yes, I know that this "boulder" makes other people happy and it gives us time to be with family and friends.  We are constantly admonished to not be "Ba-Hum-Bug!" scrooges and to see the joy of it all.  But to me, the whole idea that this holiday can be turned into a secular holiday devoid of all religious meaning leaves one empty and feeling like Sisyphus rolling the boulder up hill day after day, year after year.

    Then I think about another "boulder" that was rolled.  A real rock (not a mythological one) that closed the real tomb of our real Savior Jesus Christ. When it was rolled away, it gave hope to a lost and hurting world.  Because of that rock being rolled, Christmas IS joyous because Jesus rose from the dead after paying for our sins so we would not have to pay the penalty in Hades (hell).    It's not a fruitless endeavor that we must endure year after year.  It's a time when we can hear the angels proclaim TIDINGS OF GREAT JOY for the whole world once again. 

To those who believe like I do.... Have a MERRY Christmas!!

To those who don't .....  Have a Sisyphean Christmas!