Christmas Day
December 25, 2025
Christmas Day 2025
You are likely very busy today. Perhaps the shopping is finished, the gifts wrapped, and the meals prepared—but today the demands are different, and sometimes even greater. Christmas Day is the time when most of us gather with those we cherish or with whom we share some lasting connection.
I call Christmas Day 'busy' because though it is a joyful day, it can emotionally drain us. Think of all the talking, listening, laughing, and playing with the younger ones. Please think of how much energy it takes to make space for others’ quirks, preferences, wishes, and taboos. And consider the emotions that come with exchanging gifts, celebrating relationships, savoring shared meals, recalling Christmases past, and remembering the loved ones who once sat at our table but are no longer here.
And of course, there are the more complicated moments. Some people, though perfectly pleasant (and sometimes not), demand our energy. We stretch our patience and extend our tolerance—and perhaps they are doing the same with us. This, too, takes awareness, time, and love. All of it is part of shaping this day into one of happiness.
Recently, I attended a lecture by Kris Dodge, musician and Executive Director of Tucson’s Jazz Festival. He spoke about the great jazz masters, Miles Davis and John Coltrane. Kris shared that Coltrane once wrote in an open letter that he prayed,
“I humbly asked to be given the means and privilege to make others happy through music.”
After a profound spiritual awakening in 1957, Coltrane longed to be “a force which is truly for good,” opposing anything that brought suffering. His later acclaimed work—especially “A Love Supreme”—reflected his devotion to uplifting the human spirit.
What a simple, powerful prayer that was: to receive what he needed to bring joy into the world. You and I can offer the same prayer today. If we are stretched thin—tired, irritable, overwhelmed, or “spent”—we can ask for the means and the privilege to help bring happiness. It is, after all, a privilege to be part of love’s healing.
And this prayer brings us full circle. For on this day, two thousand years ago, a child was born whose life would embody the fullness of joy. The angel said to the shepherds:
“Fear not: for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy,
which shall be to all people.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior,
who is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:10–11)
May this day bless you with the strength to love, the grace to uplift, and the joy that the Christ Child brings to all who seek Him.
