We often open our Christmas Eve Service with the popular hymn, "Joy to the World." But we don't have to wait until December 24th to feel the joy that Christmas brings.  Nor do we have to sing out of weariness, exhaustion, or strife. For some, this season that is meant to be the "most wonderful time of time of the year" is anything but that. We grow weary with the shopping, the ads, the traffic, the crazy weather, the crowds, and the expense. And throw in a few family issues and squabbles, and we have the recipe for a melt-down.

We don't have to let our Christmas get hi-jacked. We can take it back from the retailers and the material merchants and find our center once again. Inside all of us is a joy that is only ours. It belongs to us and is accessible to us at any time that we turn within and seek it out. Intention and practice is what is required to find this joy within.

Joy is like a healing balm. It is like soft rain on drought-stricken fields. It is an ultimate blessing and a sure way out of suffering. The wonder and delight of a child's Christmas is not in the expensive gift, but rather in the shear excitement of connecting with this inner joy. Pema Chodron says, "Joy has to do with seeing how big, how completely unobstructed, and how precious things are." She writes in, Awakening Loving-Kindness, "On a day of silence like today, when things are very still, you may find that you are feeling grim and doing everything with a grim expression: grimly opening the door, grimly drinking your tea, concentrating so hard on being quiet and sill and moving slowly that you are miserable. On the other hand, you could just relax and realize that, behind all the worry, complaint, and disapproval that goes on in your mind, the sun is always coming up in the morning, moving across the sky, and going down in the evening. The birds are always out there collecting their food and making their nests and flying across the sky. The grass is always being blown by the wind or standing still. Food and flowers and trees are growing out of the earth. There's enormous richness. You could develop your passion for life and your curiosity and your interest. You could connect with your JOYFULNESS. You could start right now."