Bah Humbug !

"Bah humbug!" can bring smiles to our faces. The expression is from Charles Dicken's story A Christmas Carol. Know someone like Scrooge? Scrooge, the surly old, cranky, miserly loner. His heart is as cold as ice toward the poor and our attention is directed to his withdrawal into his sheltered world where he could feasibly remain for the rest of his life.
Yet, when a profound inner personal crisis occurs to him in the middle of the night, as Scrooge envisions his past/present/future, Scrooge is shaken to his core. We watch as His great awakening from selfishness transforms Scrooge. For, when the transformation pinnacles he is staring face forward into the future and watching himself through the eyes of those nearest to him. It is then that he sees himself as indifferent to people.
With Christ's help he turns his life around, and he becomes generous and compassionate before it is too late. We know that he is a changed man because he is joyous with generosity and a portion of our pleasure at Scrooge's outcome is our hope that if one such person as he can make such a monumental change then it must be possible for ones such as us, who are much less far gone.
Yes, Scrooge's story gives each of us hope- that we too can make needed changes in our lives, with Christ's help. For hope, you see, is the basis for taking the first step into making this Christmas a best one. Our greatest hope is that we would be as caring as Christ is caring.