Thought for the week

I WONDER where you stand on the controversial question, when is the right time to put up a Christmas Tree? For some they would answer the earlier the better.

Christmas is a unique and festive occasion and they would welcome spending as much time as they can being festive. For others they would prefer it if decorations went up on Christmas Eve and came down on Boxing Day. The same question can be asked of

Christmas songs, buying presents or putting the sprouts on to ensure they’re soft enough for Christmas dinner!

“Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth and goodwill toward men” is how the angels announced the birth of Jesus to a group of shepherds. Repeated each year in countless nativity plays, the phrase “peace on earth and goodwill toward men” is a message that can be forgotten in the endless amounts of tinsel, baubles and songs like Slade’s ‘Merry Christmas everyone’ played on repeat. Peace on earth and goodwill towards everybody is a hope that many people have, and not just at Christmas time. But the very peace and goodwill we seek can be lost in the dream of a perfect Christmas. Peace and goodwill is not inevitable at Christmas, but it is possible. The word goodwill literally means ‘good to others as a decision of the will’ or in other words you can decide to make sure good things happen to other people. The angel’s proclamation is a reminder of what many of us want during this Christmas season. I wonder if it is also a reminder that we have control over our peace and goodwill that we demonstrate to those around us. Merry Christmas and happy new year!