DAY 7: CHRISTMAS AND EASTER - A POSITIVE FEEDBACK MECHANISM 🔁

I remember a phenomenon called positive feedback mechanism I learnt in 2nd year physiology class.

In simple terms, it is when the presence of one activity instigates the production of a hormone, in turn that hormone keeps the activity running. So it's kinda like a loop. If A is present, it stimulates the production of B.

For instance it's going to be a bit technical but stay with me, when a mom gives birth, a hormone called oxytocin is produced. This hormone is responsible for contraction of the womb to help it return to it's original size. This contraction of the womb leads to a further increase in the production of oxytocin.

A->B->A->B->A

This is the kind of relationship I have with Christmas and Easter. Christmas has always been the most commercial of the two. As I got to understand the significance of Easter, I wondered why it was not the bigger festival. My assumptions are probably because birth is a happy occasion and babies are cute or the death at Easter is just too gory for some people. Anyway, that's not my main problem.

My priority of Easter still stands but I realized that His death would have been impossible without His birth. And His birth would also have been a waste if He didn't die on the cross. An appreciation of one begets an appreciation of the other.

It's a great miracle that Christ humbled Himself to our level. One worthy of all the celebration we could give it. It's an even greater thing that He degraded Himself to the shameful death on the cross.

As His death drew near, we read of Jesus struggling to accept it in the Garden of Gethsemane. It is a price too big that after 33 years, he still had some wrestling to do. But for the sake of humanity, he said “yet not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39).

In the manger, we see a reflection of the cross. Both of them sunrises signifying the end of different eras.

The in between a guide map on how to live life as God would prefer.

Christmas reminds me that God keeps His Word, Easter reminds me that God frees the captive.

Every meditative thought into Christmas has left me feeling thankful for His death. Every appreciative emotion towards Easter has made me more grateful for His humble birth.

I picture it this way, my Christmas receptive center sends Christmas cheer to my heart which causes me to feel very excited this season. The Christmas joy I feel in turn stimulates my Easter receptive center to produce Easter joy which returns to fuel Christmas cheer.

(Read it again but slowly)

This positive feedback loop, I never want to see end. I want to keep whatever stimulus is powering this alive and healthy, that I may never lose my wonder of my Lord's birth and death.