Hello dear friend! Well as you know, it's time for my birthday again.
Last year, they had a really big party for me and it seems like they
will again this year. After all they've been shopping and preparing
for it for months now, and there have been announcements and
advertisements almost every day about how soon it's coming! They
really do go overboard about it, but it's nice to know that at least
on one day of the year some people are thinking about me a little.
You know, it's been many years now since they first started
celebrating my birthday. Back then they seemed to realize and
appreciate how much fun it is for the little children. Just the same,
it seems that most folks are missing the point of it all.
Like last year, for example, when my birthday came around, they threw
a big party, but can you believe it? I wasn't even invited! Imagine!
The guest of honor, and they forgot all about me? Here they had begun
preparing for the festivities months in advance, but when the big day
came, I was left out in the cold? Well, it happened so many times in
recent years, I wasn't even surprised. Even though I wasn't invited,
I thought I'd just quietly slip in anyway. So I came in any stood off
to the side.
Everyone was drinking, laughing and having a grant time, when all of a
sudden in came this fat fellow in a bright red suit, wearing a phony
white beard and shouting, "Ho Ho Ho!". He looked like he had more
than enough to drink. When he collapsed into a big armchair, all the
little children went running over to him excitedly yelling, "Santa!
Santa!". I mean, you'd have thought he was the guest of honor and the
whole holiday was just for him. Then he began telling them the most
ridiculous story you've ever heard!, that he lives at the North Pole
with a crew of dwarfs and that every year on my birthday he rides in
his sleigh pulled by a bunch of flying reindeer, delivering presents
to children all over the world! I mean there wasn't a word of truth
in anything he said! Imagine telling such poor, little,
impressionable kids such far-fetched fables!
Finally I just had to leave. I walked out the door. It was no
surprise that no one even noticed that I had gone. As I walked down
the street afterward, I felt about as lonely and forlorn as a stray
dog? I could not remember the last time I'd felt that low. Maybe you
don't think I cry?
The little manger scene you put in the corner of your living room is
really touching! It's good that people commemorate my birthday like
that. Did you know that nowadays, in some countries, the authorities
won't even allow manger scenes to be placed in parks, streets, or
public place anymore! Not to mention their schools! I'm not talking
about Communist countries! I'm talking about the good, old USA.
Imagine! What could be more innocent than a manger scene to remind
people of my birthday? Yet it is banned! They've actually passed laws
against it and made it illegal! What's this world coming to?
Another thing that amazes me is how, on my birthday, instead of giving
me presents, most people give gifts to each other! And to top it all
off, it's usually all kinds of stuff they don't even need! Let me ask
you, wouldn't you find it odd if when your birthday came along, all
your friends decided to celebrate it by giving each other presents and
never gave you a thing?
Someone once told me, "Well, it's because you're not around like other
people are, so how can we give you a present??. You know my answer to
that one: Then give gifts of food and clothing to the poor, help
those who need it. Go visit the lonely! Any gift you give to your
needy fellow man, I'll count as if you gave it to me personally! (See
Matthew 25:34-40)
Well sad to say, things are getting worse each year. You can just
imagine my shock a few years ago when I began seeing them taking my
title out of my birthday greeting and replacing it with an X. What an
insult? Think of it! Xmas!.. What if I wrote you a birthday card
and said Happy Birthday X! You'd probably never talk to me again!
That is just about how I feel. What more could they do to push me
right out of the picture on my own birthday?
It reminds me of what happened recently to a friend of mine, a sweet
elderly fellow. He's from the poorer side of town, and he's been
trying unsuccessfully for years to join the church. It was a very
exclusive church for the proper kind of folks, and they just did not
think he was good enough to be a member. I found him one day sitting
by the church steps with his head on his hands bowed. I asked him
what was wrong. He told me about it. I put my arm around his
shoulder and told him I knew just how he felt. I've been wanting to
enter that same church for twenty years and they've never let me in
either!
Well there is an end even to my patience. So I'm going to let you in
on a secret. Now this is something I've been planning on doing for
quite sometime. I'll have my own party! How about that? It's going
to be the most fantastic feast you could possibly imagine! It might
not happen this year, but I'm sending out the invitations now. I know
you'll want to come. There is going to be room for billions, for
everyone who wants to come! Some really famous old timers and
celebrities are going to be there and I'll reserve you seat of honor
right with them! (Matthew 8:11)
So hold on to your hat because when everything is ready, I'm going to
spring it as a big surprise! Many people are going to be left out in
the cold because they did not answer my invitation. Let me know right
away if you'd like to come. I'll reserve you a place and write your
name in large golden letters in my great big Guest Book!
