I was listening to some music while doing some work around the house this past week and a Christmas song came on that I had heard many times before.  I am not sure why it caught more of my attention this time but it did.  The title of the song is “I want to see Christmas through your eyes.”  There is nothing particularly spiritual or religious about the song but it did cause me to pause and think about those words.

I know what Christmas has always looked like through my eyes, many times very tired eyes, overindulged eyes.  Looking back into my childhood, it was always quite magical with all the glitter, lights and if we were lucky, a blanket of freshly fallen snow to set the scene.  Christmas morning always came early as I, along with my brothers and sisters would always be up the moment we thought Santa had come and it was safe to see through our excited eyes what we had gotten for Christmas.  Looking back, I recall that there were many times when the anticipation of what I would hope to see did not always meet the reality of what I did see.  Instead of enjoying Christmas for what it was, I would go and sulk somewhere because I didn’t get exactly what I wanted.

That drew me to another line in the song, “I see rain, you see rainbows.”  Instead of enjoying the plentiful gifts I had gotten, I could only ruminate about what I perceived to be a disappointing Christmas.  This time, however, this song, with its title and appropriate verses, had me thinking about seeing Christmas through the eyes of Jesus.  While I was all caught up in the business of Christmas, seeing all the work to be done to decorate, food to be prepared, presents that needed to be wrapped, I began to wonder what Jesus sees through His eyes.  More specifically, how did he see me through His eyes?

I wondered how many times he would look at me in disappointment because I wasn’t as appreciative of the gifts I did get, especially since mom and dad worked very hard for the money they earned, which wasn’t always a lot.  I could see how sad He was when He saw I was more concerned about the material things of Christmas than I was about the spiritual things.  I am sure that His eyes would fill with tears when He saw how I couldn’t wait for Mass to be over so I could get to what I perceived were the important things of Christmas.

Then those words “I see rain, you see rainbows,” helped me to see that the greatest gift I received every Christmas was pure love from Jesus, incarnated into this world, to bring to me, and the whole of creation – salvation. That after the perceived disappointments (rain) there was always the rainbow (Jesus unconditional Love).