With the birth of the awareness of the Christ within us, we begin to see with a wider perspective. We learn to stop viewing our life as a series of random crises and realize that there is That within us, which is What we are, which is Faith. That within us which is Love. That within us which is Peace. This Christ awareness is the Source of Joy; the happiness of God.

Many of us have had, or continue to have, difficulty with joy; in the next millisecond after we recognize joy, we move into the fear that the joy won't last. That something will happen to ruin our joy. We feel that this cannot possibly last, because something bad is always just around the corner. And as humans, something we would name "bad" is probably not too far off. Yet - when we look with the single eye of Spirit, we know (have Faith) that life is Good. This doesn't mean that, as humans, we never experience fear or hurt or sadness or confusion. It means that even in the midst of the experience of hear or hurt or sadness, we know that the Christ is present within us as the potential for Peace. When we are in conflict we can forgive the appearance of separation and know the Truth of Love.

Living a Spirit-centered life does not exempt us from any of the circumstances of being human. Living a Spirit-centered life means that we stop believing that our happiness is dependent upon what happens to us and we remember (sooner rather than later!) that the Happiness of God is always seeking to express through us, as us, at the point of each one of us right here, right now.

We honor the birth in our awareness of the Christ by choosing, moment by moment, to live life oriented from this Center within us, rather than living reactively from the outer things that happen to us. The practices of Faith, Love, and Peace prepare us to allow Joy - the happiness of God - to express. We practice Faith by showing up, being willing to change. We practice Peace through forgiving everyone and everything which appears to be separate from us. We give Truth for error. And we practice love by returning, over and over and over and over, to the Truth that there is only One Power, It is Good, and we are That One Power. When we do these things, Joy is the result.

As we honor the birth of our elder brother, way-shower and Master Teacher Jesus, we remember that his was a birth in the fully human experience, just as we have been born into the fully human experience. We allow his birthday to be the catalyst for our own birth into the ever-unfolding and increasing awareness of our own fully Divine identity. When a baby is born there is great joy, and the birth is the beginning of a great responsibility. We honor those responsibilities in gladness, blessed by the privilege of parenting the newborn child. Similarly, when we come into awareness of Truth, there is a great responsibility to nurture the newly-awakened Divinity within us. The practices of prayer, meditation, forgiveness, self-compassion, mindfulness and willingness are the ways we nurture this newborn awareness.

Faith, Peace, and Love are the most meaningful gifts you can give yourself during this holiday season (or any season). As you nurture these gifts within yourself, you nurture the Christ awareness within yourself. As you nurture the Christ awareness within yourself, you give the greatest gift possible to the Wholeness we are; you become the happiness of God expressing in the world. Joy to the world!