It’s hard to escape Dickens’s Christmas Carol this time of year. The novella was published in 1843, and it’s never been out of print. In addition to the print editions, there are more than 500 films, stage plays, and television adaptations.
When you talk to people about the story, old man Scrooge and the ghosts take up most of the airtime. But there are lessons about gratitude lurking in the story.
Christians are especially grateful at Christmas
Believers around the world celebrate Christmas as the birth of Jesus Christ. We sing Christmas hymns and carols. We attend Christmas service.
After Scrooge awakens from his nighttime sessions with the three ghosts, he’s grateful to find that it’s Christmas Day. The first thing he does is go to church, after which he expresses his gratitude with several charitable acts.
Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim go to church too. After Tiny Tim rides home on his father’s shoulders, we learn that:
“he hoped the people saw him in the church, because he was a cripple, and it might be pleasant to them to remember upon Christmas Day, who made lame beggars walk, and blind men see.”
The Cratchits are grateful, and we can be grateful
Dickens himself had been poor but he didn’t romanticize poverty. He portrayed the Cratchits as grateful for what they had, including each other. They enjoyed each other and Christmas Day.
That’s not a bad model for us. Surely, for one day, we can set aside our smartphones, turn away from our worries, and maybe even turn off the news. At least for one day, we can be thankful for what we have and not worry about what we don’t have.
That’s my wish for you this Christmas. As Tiny Tim observed, “God bless us, every one.”
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What are you grateful for this Christmas?
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Terry Moore, CCIM, is the author of Building Legacy Wealth: How to Build Wealth and Live a Life Worth Imitating. Read his “Welcome to My Blog.”