Sunday, November 30, 2008

Just Because You Know...

Doesn't mean you have to tell...

I will never forget my worst Christmas ever...

I was about 8 and I remember my girlfriend and I were sitting in our spot in the vacant lot next to our homes and I asked how they celebrate Christmas.

Christmas was great and anticipation filled in our house. For a few weeks before our mother would shop til she dropped and soon her bedroom was filled with Christmas presents. She said "Don't peek or Christmas will be ruined" On Christmas Eve we could open one gift and the next morning we would wake and our gifts would be arranged some wrapped, some not "Santa Style" with our stockings on top.

This arrangement had always worked well for us, we would wake early with excitement and go see our presents... Until that day I talked with my friend.

T- So how does your mom put out your presents? Ours come from Santa.(excitement in my tone)

F- Well, in our house, we all know there is no Santa, We know our parents buy the presents so we are "mature" (one 8 year old talking to another) and my mother wraps and puts our presents under the tree the way mature people do...

T-HMMMMM (Later that day)...Mom, You know we are all grown ups now and we know there is no Santa Claus so why don't we be "mature" and place our presents to each other under the tree???

Mom-OK,great,then I won't have to stay up late arranging the gifts.

So, little by little the wrapped gifts started appearing under the tree, and each time the new gift was inspected and categorized by child shaken and analyzed until pretty much I knew what each and every one of my gifts were.SOOOOO

Imagine my disappointment on Christmas morning when the gifts I had held and figured out were exactly what I got. Zero excitement, Zero surprise, Zero glee...Maturity got me the worst Christmas EVER!!!

Same goes for Christian knowledge... If you know something, like that pets do not have souls, and you can direct someone to the exact passage to prove your point, do you have a right to tell little Jimmy that his beloved pet puppy that just died will not be there to meet him in Heaven? why break a heart just because you know what you know... I say, don't lie, but let the children be children, Let Children believe in all things that are wondrous to them. They are the ones we need to take lessons from because THEY are the ones with Faith of a Child...

Maturity is over-rated

1 comment:

Goldenrod said...

As a child, my saddest Christmas was the one where I opened a present from "Santa Claus" only to see that the mailing label was still affixed to the outside of the box - return address Sears - mailing address my folks.