Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Latter-day Saint
The Spirit Within: Unexpected Blessings

The Spirit Within: Unexpected Blessings

Last updated on: December 18, 2024 at 6:14 pm by Abe Mills

The Spirit Within: Unexpected Blessings 2024-12-18T18:14:48-04:00 Abe Mills

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

A Christmas Carol shows how the spirit within can be revealed.

Many people seem to be a little rough around the edges. We can easily misjudge them if we fail to look for the spirit within—the goodness, compassion, and love they have waiting to share with others.

Classic Carol

Perhaps the best-known outward-inward discrepancy is Ebenezer Scrooge from Charles Dickens’s classic A Christmas Carol. “Carol” is a song of joy, often applied to songs celebrating the Savior’s birth—so the book is well named despite being a book rather than a song

The outward Scrooge was a wealthy, business-obsessed, Christmas-hating miser; money mattered, people did not. Ghosts have ways of casting off an outside and bringing out the spirit within.

Ebenezer Scrooge was enough outside-devoted to rate three of them: one taking him to a Christmas from his past, one to a family celebration in the present, and a third taking him into a grim possible future. If there was no change, a deeply-loved crippled child would die and Scrooge himself would die despised and alone.

When Scrooge returned on Christmas morning, he was thrilled that he hasn’t missed Christmas, and he immediately set out to do everything he could to make Christmas wonderful for others. Over a Scrooge-enhanced dinner, the crippled child exclaimed, “God bless us every one!” Scrooge concluded, “I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.”

Since the spirit of Christmas is the spirit of Christ, all the year should be devoted to joy in His spirit. The scriptures remind us that Christ has told us we can become “even as He is,” that we are “the light of the World,” and we can eventually be “joint heirs” with Him in our Heavenly Father’s kingdom.

A Breathtaking Carol

I am inspired every time I see outward conditions overcome by the Spirit of Christ revealed in someone, especially when I am a little surprised by it. For as long as I can remember, I have been singing my favorite Christmas hymn, O Holy Night. Originally in French, its title is “Cantique de Noël”—Christmas Carol.

I love the way the English words capture the true spirit of Christmas.

Truly He taught us to love one another;
His law is Love and His gospel is Peace . . .
Christ is the Lord, then ever! ever praise we!
His pow’r and glory, evermore proclaim!

The French version of the second verse gives a truth that doesn’t transfer into English: “Noel! Noel! Voici [see here] the Rédempteur.”

I was surprised to learn that the song was banned for more than two decades in France because its origins were not considered religious. A wine merchant, Placide Cappeau, who also happened to be a poet, wasn’t an outwardly religious man, but he was asked by his home town Church to write a poem for Christmas—which he did. Though the outer man rejected organized religion and earned his living selling wine, the spirit within was expressing faith and love. Adolph Adam, who wrote the music, was a French Catholic. He was accustomed to having music flow from the spirit within, and he was pleased to compose this particularly inspired music. No one could accuse him of being non-Christian, though a few have tried.

Family Carols

We have a tradition of singing Christmas carols to our neighbors each year. One year when we lived in Michigan, our neighbors included an elderly woman who was a female Scrooge. She was deliberately unfriendly to children. She would yell at our kids when they played in the street, and her son warned us to stay away from her because she didn’t like children.

On our night of caroling, we went to her home, complete with treats and instruments. As we sang
Christmas songs at her door, there was no answer. We began to walk to the next door. As most of the family walked across the street, one of our sons stayed and continued to belt out the carols. She finally opened the door and shocked us all. This bitter, hardened, angry woman broke down and began to cry. She said that she had never had anyone come to her home and sing Christmas carols to her. Our son was not a ghost—just a very loud equivalent.

Over and over our newly emerging friend expressed her gratitude to us for coming and thinking of her. That night the spirit within our family spoke to her. We had served her in a simple way, but the outer shell was broken and the spirit within her was awakened, changing her life.

From that day forward, she became like another grandma to our kids. She often came outside while they were playing to give them ice cream, or cookies, or just a hug. She treated our family with so much kindness that even after we moved away, she wrote birthday cards and sent money to each of our kids until she passed away several years later. The distracting outer image was gone, and the spirit within was in control.

A classic literary miser, a winemaker-poet, and a stubborn carol-belter who wouldn’t give up. These three—and countless others—have taught us that rough outsides can be sluffed off to reveal God’s precious children who are waiting with goodness, faith, and love.

Previous Post

December 4, 2024

Perfect Preparation: Legacy of John the Baptist

Next Post

December 26, 2024 Devoted Reverence

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Comfort and Healing Death and Resurrection Family gratitude Service Spiritual Growth Strength and Courage Uncategorized

Select a Month April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz