Christmas and dear holidays...
Christmas has come and gone and with it the tides of holidays and soon the tree will begin to wither, shedding a thousand and more needles. The lights, by some will be left till February (thankfully), and decor will slowly make it's way back to the dark reigons of the basement or elsewhere. And slowly and surely some will pay off their past dues, some will make plans for the New year and others will continue doing the do.
I've been thinking a lot about what Christmas/Holidays mean and about life. This life of ours is very short. When you think of the hills and the earth all the millions of years...it's amazing. And we are here in such a short amount of time...only living till our 80's or 90's, if we are lucky. But what is quantity of years if it is without quality. Some might interpret quality as living the "good life" or having a fancy ________ (fill in the blank). However, some might say quality is not what you have but what you do. What are your actions doing? What have you done in this world to make it better? Certainly, we can not all be Mother Theresa's or Ghandi's or Tolstoys. But we can certainly try to attain some of what they accomplished. What parts of our small worlds could we help? Would that mean volunteering one hour a month to some shelter? Would it mean picking up some trash that crossed your path? Smiling at your nieghbor even if you are annoyed at them for some reason. It's hard to do but it's small and true.
I've thought about what the holidays are and aren't. I've determined that I don't like shopping and would prefer to donate trees to places where there aren't very many. I've made a good majority of my gifts and this has given me the utmost pleasure (even though I was sick at the time with double ear infections!).
I think the best description of the Holidays and of Christmas is found from Charles Dicken's "A Christmas Carol",
'There are many things from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited...'Christmas among the rest. But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, (is) as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore... though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!'
And this is what I feel about the whole blessed time of Winter Solstice. We are all on this journey to death and how we treat each other and are kind, that is what makes this life worth while.
My question is how do we make it last? How do we take the forgiving and charitable time and make it last the year round? What little kindnesses can we give to each other? I think we already know the answer. : )
I've been thinking a lot about what Christmas/Holidays mean and about life. This life of ours is very short. When you think of the hills and the earth all the millions of years...it's amazing. And we are here in such a short amount of time...only living till our 80's or 90's, if we are lucky. But what is quantity of years if it is without quality. Some might interpret quality as living the "good life" or having a fancy ________ (fill in the blank). However, some might say quality is not what you have but what you do. What are your actions doing? What have you done in this world to make it better? Certainly, we can not all be Mother Theresa's or Ghandi's or Tolstoys. But we can certainly try to attain some of what they accomplished. What parts of our small worlds could we help? Would that mean volunteering one hour a month to some shelter? Would it mean picking up some trash that crossed your path? Smiling at your nieghbor even if you are annoyed at them for some reason. It's hard to do but it's small and true.
I've thought about what the holidays are and aren't. I've determined that I don't like shopping and would prefer to donate trees to places where there aren't very many. I've made a good majority of my gifts and this has given me the utmost pleasure (even though I was sick at the time with double ear infections!).
I think the best description of the Holidays and of Christmas is found from Charles Dicken's "A Christmas Carol",
'There are many things from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited...'Christmas among the rest. But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, (is) as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore... though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!'
And this is what I feel about the whole blessed time of Winter Solstice. We are all on this journey to death and how we treat each other and are kind, that is what makes this life worth while.
My question is how do we make it last? How do we take the forgiving and charitable time and make it last the year round? What little kindnesses can we give to each other? I think we already know the answer. : )
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