Those who do not hold to their own wills always feel content, for externally they lose nothing when they do not get their own way.  Whatever happens, no matter what it is, gives satisfaction; things do not happen as one wills but simply happen as they happen.

It is sometimes surprising to modern Christians to realize that the birth of Christ – what we celebrate as Christmas Eve/Christmas Day – was not all that important for centuries of the early Christian faith. The facts that Christ’s birthdate was determined and established to capture attention away from Pagan/solstice/mythic magic celebrations and practices, that the inclusion of the nativity stories in Matthew and Luke were theological alternatives to the divine mythos of the Roman Caesars rather than historic retellings (which helps explain why the two stories have virtually nothing in common EXCEPT baby Jesus and mother Mary), and that birthdays in general were not greatly valued or remembered in common culture Palestine, all help explain the early indifference.

And think about this for a moment. Put yourself in the story. In, oh, say, what we now date 12 BCE, you are living in poverty, Roman oppression, widespread disease and violence, and your projected lifespan is in the 28-42 years range. You are an uneducated, illiterate Jewish woman or man, living in a small village, barely scraping by to survive day-by-day. You have been taught since childhood that one day God will redeem all God’s people and punish their oppressors, sending a kingly warrior heavenly agent, known as the Messiah. People have held this belief for centuries and there have been hundreds of pretenders to the Messianic throne.

Now, almost a decade later, in a small town isolated from most main thoroughfares, not known for much beyond one obscure reference in prophetic scripture, a child is born to a poor couple that virtually no one beyond their family has ever heard of. Quite literally, nothing more is heard or spoken of this child for another thirty years. You, alas, died at some point unless you were one of the rare minority to make it into your 50s or 60s, so none of this is relevant to you.

Outside of limited communities, much of what occurred during the few years of Jesus’ ministry is all but unknown. After the crucifixion and resurrection of this child grown to adulthood, news about his teaching, life, and purpose spreads, with no story of his birth and childhood shared for approximately another 40+ years. Finally, in around 90 CE, the days of your great-grandchildren, a couple conflicting stories about the birth of Jesus emerge. For another seven to eight centuries, the two most significant Christian celebrations are Easter and Pentecost, with Christmas being used to oppose non-Christian solstice observances.

Have I thoroughly depressed you? Sorry, not my intention. What does this have to do with Dorotheos’s maxim for the day? Sometimes we allow our own thinking, our own opinions, our own prejudices, and our own desires to frame our ability to function in the world. When our worldview is challenged, we fall apart. We engage in endless and pointless debate about things we cannot possibly know for sure, and that really aren’t that important to begin with. We create meaning and even truth for our own lives, but often to our own detriment. Having things our own way is NOT the most important thing in the world. Demanding others think or act or believe as we do is not the point. The more we value our own view of the world, the less we value other’s views, including God’s. The more we dig in our heels in spurious certainty, the less open we are to truth.

How do knowledge, wisdom, truth, and facts factor into your worldview? What do you know for sure? Where might you confuse belief with knowledge? How can “truth” become an obstacle to “meaning”?