(EDITOR’S NOTE: The following Country Editor article appeared in the January 4, 1984, issue of this newspaper by the late Publisher/Editor Sammy J. Franklin.)
I am always amazed by the way, during the Christmas season, for about two weeks out of every year, all the world’s problems seem to fade in our minds.
In children’s minds, the season conjures up images of twinkling lights, trees hung with tinsel, reindeer, sleighs and Santa’s laps. For us much older, it’s a time to rest a little more than usual, snooze in that comfortable armchair by the fireplace, and watch some football.
Somehow every year the two weeks around Christmas are a magical time. And this year was no different. And yet… Who among us can forget the red of American blood, which has settled into the sands of the Middle East and the Caribbean? Which one of us can turn our minds away from Soviet- backed terrorist bombings taking place all over the world? Beirut. Madrid. London. Paris. Washington, D.C.
Free people and people yearning to become free are under siege everywhere in the world. The Free World and especially America are caught up in a life-and-death struggle to keep mankind’s last, precious embers of God-given liberty alive.
Little wonder, then, that some people ask: “Was there any reason at all to be happy this holiday season?” But, of course, there was.
Christmas is a time for all God’s people to be filled with wonderment and joy. Of course, it is the most special time of all for Christians, who celebrate the human birth of Christ Himself. To us, the day of Christ’s birth is like no other in all human history. His birthday divides time itself in half – marking the age that went before, giving a name to the age that is.
I believe that faith in Jesus Christ brings with it the gift of eternal life, and for that reason, I do what I can to spread the message of my Saviour.
But I know, too, as Thomas Jefferson wrote, that… “Almighty God hath created the mind free…(and) all attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burdens…are a desparture from the plan of the Holy Author of our religion, who being Lord both of body and mind, yet chose not to propagate it by coercions on either, as was in His Almighty power to do, but to extend it by its influence on reason alone…” While the world and all its problems bear down heavily on us, we cannot forget a baby’s cry that pierced the darkness of human night nearly 2,000 years ago. May His light continue to guide us as individuals and as a nation through the perilous months and years ahead. May we continue to seek His will and guidance as we defend freedom under attack in this world.
