Vol. 37 No. 48 - I AM the Witness - November 27, 1994
I AM Witness
The Gift of the Presence
Dear Elizabeth Clare Prophet,
I am a Depression Era baby.
My father, though once devoted to the Catholic Church, left it when he was about eighteen because when he asked, “What is the Church doing for people?” he didn’t get an answer that satisfied him. He turned instead to politics, where he felt he could make a greater contribution. Yet he was one of the most Christian men I have known.
For some reason or another, Christmas was always important to my father, and our house was always most carefully and beautifully decorated—lovingly decorated, as well, with each Christmas tree bauble caressed as it was placed on the branches, each streamer placed just so, each wreath hung so carefully.
As all the decorating was going on, we children became excited to fever pitch—until it was gift-giving time after dinner on Christmas Eve. (Our father, being Polish, preserved this custom after coming to Canada.)
Dad had a family of five children and work was very hard to get (not only for him but also for our aunts and uncles), so there was very little money—almost none—left over for presents. Only a Boy Scout hamper of toys left on our doorstep almost at gift-giving time came to the rescue of our parents at the last minute.
After the great buildup of excitement as we decorated, the gift giving for me was always a terrible letdown—an emotional crash. I know now that Christmas means more than gift giving, but I was only a child and I did not understand the greater subtleties of Christmas.
Every year for many years I went through the terrible disappointment that followed the giving of presents every Christmas Eve until Christmas became something I preferred to shun, to escape from, to wave away. And then one day I was introduced to the Presence! And I realized the lesson for me in those horrendous Christmastime experiences!
More important than all the Christmas presents I would ever have was the gift of my I AM Presence. That is what I was to search for—and find. Then I would truly understand the meaning of Christmas!
Sincerely,
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