Seasons come and seasons go.  Rest assured, I’m not speaking of the obvious, cyclical progression of fall to summer.  But most recently, from a philosophical perspective, I’ve developed a keen sense of awareness of the transference of life seasons. Lately I’ve been hearing a lot of holiday greetings ringing forth, mostly from television and radio commercials. And I’ve observed what I perceive as the mostly insensitive, and subtly arrogant spirits, of the “haves” who shout a gleeful ‘Merry Christmas’ to the abundant number of citizens who by no events of their own making, find themselves currently in the “have-not” column of life.  I cringe as the elite allow themselves to be interviewed and so shallowly boast of how much they plan to spend this season with little or no regard for their next-door neighbor who may soon be forced to pack it up and move it on.  After all, our current U.S. President has finally made the acknowledgment that America is actually in a recession and not merely heading towards one as so-long alleged. According to media pundits, this recession is really a year old. America has been in a downward spiral for 12 months. It hasn’t taken the average “Jo-Joe” that long to make this assessment.  With one in 10 households looking at foreclosure or the possibility thereof, America is paying a mega price for being fueled by a fast-forward creation, and spending of money.  Recently, while watching the evening news, I observed money flying off the printing press to pay America’s bills and I stood with an awestruck look questioning  how one can turn that ‘play money’ into real cash so easily?  I’d actually never recalled seeing that done; although the experts would probably advise me that it’s really quite common.  I somehow knew that a bigger dilemma lurked underneath this printing-press-creation of money that would somehow eventually “trickle up” to take a bite out of the “big guy’s” budget. I knew that if this was really a viable solution to America’s economic woes (as well as the world’s) the number of people losing their jobs and ultimately their homes would not have escalated to the degree it has. We’ve got a new president set to take the stage in a few weeks. He’s got a lot of interesting ideas on how he plans to put America back on course. He speaks a lot about getting Ameri-cans back to work; and, hopefully stopping the lie that there are certain jobs America's people won’t do; as though her working class were afraid of getting their hands dirty. As a country that has been built from the ground up, at the hands of hard-working, sweat-on-the-brow, ordinary, everyday kind of people, I’d like one to name a job that would be turned down if it meant a man keeping his home, and food on his family’s table. Most Americans were not born with a silver spoon in mouth. And those that were born with the shiny silver spoon either have assimilated to the real world as change agents on  missions of mercy, or simply emerged from the shadows of famous relatives before them. Through the twinkling eyes of a naïve child whose parents are able to keep toy stores afloat this holiday season, the classic sounds of the season will make it hard to sleep come Christmas Eve. But I’m for whatever reason, in a season of  seeing life through the eyes of an adult; and am solemnly reminded that many of these children will ultimately be relying on the generosity of strangers who drop toys in a barrel at the local Wal-mart.  And I’m reminded, too, of the many parents who will have to catch several buses in inclement weather, just to stand in a line to pick up these gifted toys. And there’s a part of me that wants to replace the word Merry with something else. Something directly or similar to, “Praise God for our many blessings”. Or “Thank God for sending Jesus to Earth to save us from hell”. Or “Thank God for the opportunity to celebrate such a special birthday in freedom”. Somehow Merry Christmas seems far too shallow; and chestnuts roasting on an open fire too pseudo-feel-good for the current economic times. Before I get letters, I want to say I’m very optimistic. In this mature season’s lens that’ I’m viewing life, the only holiday blues I may be sensing are directly related to the strangers’ paths I cross in passing.  I tend to live close to reality’s edge and am super-sensitive to the faces of the people. There are fewer genuinely happy faces in the mall. There are a lot of worried faces of how to take their kids’ lists from wish to reality. On behalf of those faces, I’d like to say that my smile of encouragement is just that. It’s by no means an absent awareness of your pains. I’ll end this by saying America is going to, by the grace of a merciful God, be okay. And as I heard Dave Ramsey say recently, 98% of the truth is a lie. So stay with the 2 percent of what’s truth; the Bible being one of them.  Another truth that comes to mind is you can only do what you can do. There's no use stressing out trying to make a fleeting reality for someone who ten years from now won’t even remember the debt you’re creating in the name of "pay-for-it-later" giving. Enjoy this holiday season. Keep it simple by keeping it real; and, knowing that the gifts Jesus gave had nothing at all to do with spending money. Do all you can and trust that God will ultimately do what’s best. Have a peace-filled holiday; and remember Jesus is the reason for the season; not your trying to be a god to your children and family members and friends. The best gift you can give is to someone who’s currently not in a place to give one back to you.  In other words, be blessed simply by being a blessing.