Christmas has an ambience all its own. There is a mood, and atmosphere, a spirit during the season like no other. Senses are heightened, hearts softened, spirits buoyed and love easier to express. Of course not everyone always feels this uplift. Circumstances and conditions vary. Then there are a few who react to it and become Scrooges. Some assail it and endeavor to minimize its influence other than economically.

The fact remains that in general the aforementioned spirit prevails broadly. The ethos is an atmospheric oasis in time.

Let's keep Christmas this year. Long live its spirit. Let's keep the vocabulary and sensations suggested by it such as:

Succinctly it has been said, "Pleasure is only the pause between two pains." It is closely related to externals.

Joy is an inside job. At Christmas we sing about "Joy to the World."

Peace is a word exchanged more frequently around Christmas. It is challenged by inner tension and external worries. Having it passes understanding.

On that natal night angles said, "Peace on earth good will toward men." Critics ask where is that promised peace? Henry Longfellow understood how it was used. It wasn't a promise of peace but a prescription for peace.

Longfellow wrote the words (1864) and John Calkin wrote the music (1872) to "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day."

"I heard the bells on Christmas day

Their old familiar carols play,

And wild and sweet the words repeat

Of peace on earth, good will toward me.

And in despair I bowed my head

'There is no peace on earth' I said,

For hate is strong and mocks the song

Of peace on earth, good will to men.'

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:

God is not dear, nor does He sleep;

The wrong shall fail, the right prevail

With peace on earth, good will to men."

A prescription, any kind of prescription does no good unless taken. There is a spiritual dimension to life. Many try to deny it to their detriment. Some realize it and try to crowd it out with pressing present things.

We are often like little children who at bedtime know they want something but think it is water or something to eat when what they need is sleep. They confuse the two.

Many people have a yearning for meaning and spiritual fulfillment and confuse it with a longing to obtain possessions, power, prominence, or prestige only to find those things don't satisfy.

Solomon, the wise ancient King of Israel, had all the material things one could hope for. In the Bible his ancient Hebrew expression as translated into English reads, "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity" or "emptiness of emptiness." What his expression means is trying to fill an inner void with things is like trying to fill a vacuum with a vacuum.

Try the prescription for peace and keep the spirit of Christmas all year. That will make for a Happy New Year.

The Rev. Dr. Nelson Price is pastor emeritus of Roswell Street Baptist Church. Contact Price at nlprice@aol.com.