(Quick aside ...Kylie Minogue also starred in the episode and no doubt many men were deeply envious of David Tennant (playing the Doctor) as he got a couple of opportunities to engage in an old custom i.e., kissing Kylie!)
Anyway, back to the storyline ... the guide for those visiting the planet was explaining some of the customs of Earth that he'd read about, fort this time they called Christmas ... a violent time when the race called people hunted, killed and ate the turkey people for dinner, and then the day after engaged in a violent sport called boxing, ...
... and at that point my mind started churning and musing.
I started thinking about how often I look at familiar or unfamiliar things; friendships, relationships, events etc and think I know about them, when in fact I am just like that guide: I'm miles off! Sometimes I can recover from my ignorance, but sadly, all too often my judgements have involved people with whom I had a friendship or relationship, and with disastrous consequences. I have listened to the here-say of others or what I've read in the papers etc and made a judgement based on these rather than finding out for myself. And in so-doing, I have hurt others and myself ... despite best intentions ... sometimes irreversibly.
I think at this time of year about my parents, both dead now. My father died just after Christmas in the mid 1980s and my mother on May Day in 2000. I was with them both as they passed away ... but particularly this year I miss them very much. I am acutely aware of what they invested in me (despite their faults and failings) and I feel a real sense of loss, yet also a real sense of gratitude that I was in the position of having parents who cared.
At this time of year I also think about the Christmas story ... about a God who loved his world so much that he was prepared to come and live amongst us as a human. And I think about how many people think they know the story, yet are miles out. And I think about all those people for whom the story is nothing more than a fable, soft and warm and fluffy, with no relevance today. And I think about his love that still makes it possible for me to survive my emotional turmoil, my mood swings, my highs and depressions because despite all of my rubbish, his love just keeps coming towards me. Nothing can stop it. It is unconditional (i.e., no strings attached).
I am grateful that I can enjoy a relationship with God through Jesus which confirms my value (I am one of the best at feeling undervalued!), which allows me to fail and yet is still waiting for me when I decide to return, and which celebrates with me in my good times and successes. As it says in His manual for life, 'Nothing can separate us from the Love of God.'
So, I hope that no matter how you feel this Christmas, you can take encouragement that God has no favourites and is there for each and every one of us ... and that fortunately, his dependability doesn't depend on us.
Here are a few thoughts on the subject ...
ALL THINGS TO ALL MEN
God's love becomes a pillow
To catch us when we fall.
God's love becomes a ladder
To help us over the wall.
God's love spreads like a blanket,
Protecting; safe; secure.
God's love, like fresh white driven snow
Is even, deep and pure.
God's love is our anchor,
Firm when the tempests rage.
God's love is a strong and solid rock
Which never changes with age.
God's love is a prickly thorn bush;
Close encounters can cause us pain.
God's love is a mighty waterfall;
Washing us again and again.
God's love is God's love,
To which our love cannot compare.
We need to take the risk,
Make sure it's God's love that we share.
Yes, God's love is God's love,
To which nothing can compare.
Unending; unchanging; unconditional.
This is the love we must share.
If you like this poem there are more thoughts and poems in my book 'Friendship is a Verb (in a hurting world)'
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