December 2014
Happy Holidays!
26 December 2014 @ 12:14
Happy Holidays to one and all! I know, I know. Some of you are asking why didn’t he say ‘Merry Christmas’? Well, quite frankly, I’m okay with Happy Holidays. It’s origin is found in the Old English hāligdæg or ‘holy day’ and that is what really makes it a meaningful greeting for me. Yes, it is Christmas that we celebrate; the birth of hope and UNconditional Love into this world. It is the birth of Christ and the Hope found in Him that allows me to be with the families that I see almost every day, thus making every day a Holy Day. It is in the midst of the shared sufferings, sufferings that our God fully understands, that I most experience His Presence. It is that Presence of HOPE in this world that allows me to keep my head up when my heart hurts so badly from the loss of loved ones and this has been a year filled with loss. I pray that we can look beyond the greeting and see the person behind it and simply find someone who needs to know the Love that we celebrate. I am not always really good at that but if I look at each day as a Holy Day or Holiday, I have a constant reminder of how I should live.
Earlier this week, as my heart ached with thoughts of a family who had just lost their four month old daughter and of the difficulties that so many of my friends were experiencing, I found myself sitting in front of our Christmas tree thinking about what their Christmas celebrations would be like. My eyes filled with tears and, as they did, I experienced an overwhelming sense of God’s presence for, through the prism of my tears, the lights on our tree had been transformed into an image so incredibly beautiful. It was the thoughts of these many friends that had caused the transformation. I realized that our celebration truly needs to be one of relationship; first with God through the Gift of his Son; then through family and friends. Rather than worrying about how we are greeted during the season, or about what gifts we are getting, perhaps we should worry more about God’s children who are hungry, thirsty, naked, sick and in prison and about what it is that God has called us to do for them, for in doing unto the least of these we have done it unto Him. This is not necessarily a season of feeling that we are right or good; it is a season of being humbled that the God of all creation would leave the glory of heaven and enter into this world to live life as one of us, with the journey taking Him from a filthy stable to a rugged cross, and He did it for us; not because we deserved it but because He loves us. It is in the realization of what God has done that we can praise and honor Him by using the gifts we have been given to bless others. That is what brings true happiness. So I thank God for the family that He has given me and for the many friends that he has blessed me with and for the opportunity He has given me to serve Him. Blessings!
Earlier this week, as my heart ached with thoughts of a family who had just lost their four month old daughter and of the difficulties that so many of my friends were experiencing, I found myself sitting in front of our Christmas tree thinking about what their Christmas celebrations would be like. My eyes filled with tears and, as they did, I experienced an overwhelming sense of God’s presence for, through the prism of my tears, the lights on our tree had been transformed into an image so incredibly beautiful. It was the thoughts of these many friends that had caused the transformation. I realized that our celebration truly needs to be one of relationship; first with God through the Gift of his Son; then through family and friends. Rather than worrying about how we are greeted during the season, or about what gifts we are getting, perhaps we should worry more about God’s children who are hungry, thirsty, naked, sick and in prison and about what it is that God has called us to do for them, for in doing unto the least of these we have done it unto Him. This is not necessarily a season of feeling that we are right or good; it is a season of being humbled that the God of all creation would leave the glory of heaven and enter into this world to live life as one of us, with the journey taking Him from a filthy stable to a rugged cross, and He did it for us; not because we deserved it but because He loves us. It is in the realization of what God has done that we can praise and honor Him by using the gifts we have been given to bless others. That is what brings true happiness. So I thank God for the family that He has given me and for the many friends that he has blessed me with and for the opportunity He has given me to serve Him. Blessings!