Written By: Keith Spear | Written On: Wednesday, December 24, 2025
Christmas, Commerce, and the Courage to Seek: A CEO’s Message of Faith and Good Will
To our friends, partners, and customers across the world,
At the close of another year, I’m writing to you not only as a CEO, but as a fellow traveler who is learning, sometimes slowly, what it means to seek happiness, love, and God. Christmas gives us a unique moment to pause, to look beyond deadlines and dashboards, and to remember why we work in the first place: to serve, to build, to care, and to love. Many of you observe Christmas in different ways. Some emphasize the Nativity story and the promise it holds. Others gather for family traditions that have grown over centuries. We also know that some customs surrounding this season trace back to pre-Christian times. I want to speak plainly about that, and about the deeper meaning Christians around the world find in Christmas today.
The heart of Christmas
Christmas announces a simple claim: that God drew near to us, in a way we could recognize and receive. In the Christian story, the child in the manger reveals a God who is not distant, not indifferent, and not unreachable. He is the God who steps into our ordinary lives and shows us what love looks like when it has skin on it—how it speaks, serves, listens, heals, and forgives. That is the heart of Christmas for believers everywhere: Emmanuel, “God with us.”
If you are a follower of Jesus, you know this truth can be as unsettling as it is comforting. It unsettles us because love that is real demands something of us: humility, generosity, patience, and courage. It comforts us because we are not asked to conjure these virtues from thin air; we are invited to receive them from the One who first loved us. The manger teaches us that smallness isn’t weakness, and that hope often begins almost invisible—like a heartbeat in the dark, like a first light before dawn.
On origins and the power of redemption
People sometimes point out that parts of the Christmas season carry echoes of ancient, non-Christian festivals—midwinter feasts, evergreen boughs, the timing of celebrations near the solstice. As a business leader who values clear facts, I won’t gloss that over. Those echoes are real. Yet the distinct claim of the Christian faith is not that it erases history, but that it redeems it. From the earliest days, Christians took what was at hand—language, art, music, calendars—and reoriented them toward the worship of God and the celebration of His coming near in Christ. The point was never to pretend the past didn’t exist. The point was to illuminate it with a new center.
That is what faith does. It does not demand a spotless origin story before it can get to work. It takes ordinary materials—the stuff of family, culture, and even commerce—and turns them outward in service to love. To me, that is the miracle of Christmas in any age: light entering a familiar room and showing us a better way to use what we already have. In that spirit, we acknowledge the complex origins of certain customs, and then we ask the more decisive question: How can these days help us remember the child in the manger and remake our lives around Him?
Faith in the marketplace
As a CEO, I carry responsibility for goals, growth, and the livelihoods of many people who entrust their time and talent to our company. I also carry responsibility for the tone we set—what we reward, what we tolerate, and what we celebrate. The marketplace can tempt us to see everything as a transaction. But the Christmas story insists that people are never just inputs, customers are never just conversions, and competitors are never just obstacles. Every person we meet bears the dignity of being seen and loved by God. If we forget that, we lose more than reputation—we lose our soul.
This season, I’m asking our teams to measure success with a wider lens. Yes, we will count revenue, but we will also count the number of times we chose integrity over expedience, generosity over scarcity, and patience over pressure. We will celebrate when a colleague is lifted up, when a supplier is treated fairly, and when a customer is served with kindness even when there’s nothing in it for us. If Christmas means anything in the marketplace, it means we do business in a way that leaves people more hopeful than we found them.
A worldwide family
Our community spans continents and cultures. Some of you worship in cathedrals of stone; others in churches that meet under tin roofs or in borrowed schoolrooms. Some gather openly; others quietly. Some sing carols in languages I have never heard, yet your joy is unmistakable. The global Church is not an abstract idea to us—it is made of the customers we serve, the partners we trust, and the colleagues we love.
Across our world, December doesn’t look the same. For some, it is winter and long evenings. For others, it is summer sun and open windows. In some places, tables are full and laughter is loud; in others, there is real need and real fear. Christmas teaches us to hold both realities honestly. We rejoice with those who rejoice. We share with those in need. We pray for those in danger. We remember the refugees of the first Christmas, the holy family on the run from violence, and we refuse to become numb to the vulnerable families among us now.
The search for happiness, love, and God
Every human being is on a search, whether or not we use religious words. We seek happiness—sometimes in achievement, sometimes in security, sometimes in experiences or applause. We seek love—love that sees us, accepts us, and calls us to become more than we are. And we seek God—even when we call that search by other names like meaning, purpose, truth, or home.
At Christmas, Christians proclaim that this search is not one-sided. We search for God, and God searches for us. We reach for happiness and discover that joy arrives as a gift. We hunger for love and find that Love has taken the first step. For those who believe, the manger is the surprising center point where the world’s longings and God’s generosity meet.
But let me also say this: whether you are confident in your faith or standing at the edge of it, you are welcome in this conversation. If you doubt, if you wonder, if your experience of religion has been complicated, you’re not disqualified. You are precisely the kind of person Christmas speaks to, because Christmas is not the celebration of our certainty—it is the celebration of God’s nearness. My wish for you is not pressure to perform spiritually, but the freedom to be honest, to ask real questions, and to be surprised by grace.
Tradition, conscience, and the way forward
Many families carry traditions they love—some explicitly Christian, some simply seasonal. Candles in windows. Music only played in December. Recipes handed down like heirlooms. It is good to receive these with gratitude. At the same time, each of us is called to form a conscience—an inner compass shaped by truth and love. If a tradition lifts your eyes to the good, keep it. If it distracts, rework it. If it burdens, release it. Faith is not fearfully clinging to everything we’ve ever done, nor is it proudly discarding everything that came before. It is the humility to ask what leads us toward love of God and neighbor—and the courage to change accordingly.
As a company, we want to live that balance too. We honor what has served our people well, and we innovate where the world needs better. We invest in practices that care for customers and communities, and we walk away from what wastes trust. In my experience, conscience and excellence are allies. When we do the right thing, we tend to do the best thing.
A season for reconciliation
Christmas invites reconciliation—between estranged family members, between colleagues who have disagreed, and within our own divided hearts. Reconciliation is not denial. It doesn’t pretend no wrong was done. It tells the truth, seeks forgiveness, and chooses a future better than the past. If there is a bridge you can begin to rebuild this season, take the first step. If there is an apology you can offer, give it. If there is a burden you can set down, lay it at the feet of the One who came to carry it with you.
I have my own work to do here. Leadership means owning both outcomes and missteps. Where I have fallen short this year—in decisions, in communication, in pace—I ask forgiveness. My commitment in the year ahead is to lead more slowly where wisdom requires it and more boldly where justice demands it.
Generosity that outlives the season
There is a goodness in gift-giving that stretches beyond the package and the moment. A thoughtful gift says, “I see you.” But generosity can be wider than a wrapped item. It can be time given to someone who is lonely, attention given to a child who is restless, advocacy given to a worker who is overlooked, or resources given to a neighbor in need. The best generosity is not performative. It is quiet, steady, and contagious. It outlasts the season because it springs from a source that does not run dry.
As a company, we will continue to support initiatives that care for families, education, and local communities in the regions where we operate. We are also encouraging our teams to identify needs close to home and meet them with creativity and care. If you have ideas or partnerships that align with this vision, we would be honored to hear them. The world is full of good work waiting to be done, and together we can do more of it.
Hope that looks like action
Hope is not wishful thinking. In the Christian vision, hope is a discipline that looks like action. It shows up to the meeting prepared. It calls a friend back. It keeps a promise. It forgives and tries again. It refuses cynicism and chooses to build. Christmas hope is rugged because it was born in a stable, laid in a feeding trough, and carried into a world that did not always welcome it. If your hope feels small this year, that is no disqualification. Small hope can move great things when it is placed in faithful hands.
So plant something good. Start a conversation. Mentor someone. Read a chapter that stretches you. Pray a simple prayer. Invite a neighbor. Write a note of gratitude. These acts may seem too ordinary to matter, but love is cumulative. It gathers like snow and reshapes the landscape.
Gratitude for our people and partners
To our employees: thank you for bringing your best every day, for caring about details no one sees, and for lifting each other through hard weeks. To your families: thank you for the unseen sacrifices that make excellent work possible. To our partners and suppliers: thank you for your integrity when no one is looking and for your resilience when challenges arise. To our customers: thank you for your trust, your feedback, and your patience when we’re still learning. We do not take any of you for granted.
Gratitude changes how we lead. It makes us less defensive and more curious. It opens our hands so that we hold our success more lightly and share it more freely. If you are part of our story in any way, know that we see you, we value you, and we are committed to serving you even better in the year ahead.
A blessing for your journey
As Christmas approaches, here is my prayer for you, wherever you find yourself on the journey of faith:
May you find happiness that lasts longer than a moment and runs deeper than a mood—the happiness of a life aligned with what is true and good.
May you know love that steadies you—the kind that tells you the truth, forgives your faults, celebrates your growth, and refuses to give up on you.
May you sense the nearness of God—not as an abstraction but as a presence that meets you in your real life, your real questions, and your real hopes.
May your home be a place of peace, your work a place of purpose, and your community a place of shared courage.
And may the light that dawned in Bethlehem dawn again in every place where darkness has claimed the last word.
Looking ahead with faith and goodwill
We step into a new year with plenty we cannot predict. But uncertainty is not a reason to retreat. It is a reason to deepen our roots—in faith that God is with us, in love that serves our neighbors, and in hope that builds what is good. As a company, we will continue to pursue excellence without losing sight of the people for whom excellence exists. We will invest in our teams, innovate responsibly, and measure success by the good we help create.
Thank you for being part of this mission. Thank you for your courage, your creativity, and your trust. Whether you celebrate with candlelight and carols or with quiet reflection, whether you mark these days publicly or privately, know that we stand with you in goodwill. We wish you a Merry Christmas, a season of true rest, and a new year marked by wisdom and joy.
With respect and hope,
Keith E Spear
Our CEO and Founder
I forever keep in mind that I am not the owner but merely a steward.
