Hmmm, what if we turn away from the news for a day and embrace the simple things in our life?
It is my custom at this time of year to cast a look back at the year that is ending and weigh the implications of the major events that populated it. But the major news stories of the year are mostly bleak: war and bloodshed, extreme and destructive weather events, the filthy rich getting even more filthy rich while growing numbers of the poor live in encampments, the machinations of politics and the rhetoric of those who inhabit it.
Not topics I can find inspiration in. So I think it would be better to turn away from the news and look to things closer to heart and home. In that spirit, I ask that you:
Fight back against the urge to look the other way when you encounter the destitute panhandling for handouts. Consider that There but for the grace of God go I. Offer them whatever spare change you might have. I keep spare change in the console of my car for this purpose.
Count your blessings and be grateful for them. Count your tribulations too and if they are fewer in number than your blessings, again be grateful. If they outnumber your blessings, fine someone to help you carry the load and do not feel it is a sign of weakness to do so.
When you witness the inconsiderate acts of others, give them the grace to be flawed and human. If the magnitude of these acts is too great to warrant grace, trust that greater forces will hold them to account in due time.
Take pleasure in the simple things that have no dollar value: a walk in the woods, a cloudless blue sky, a smile offered by a stranger as they pass by you, the undying loyalty of a treasured pet. These things are priceless and can never be devalued.
Ask for help if you need it and accept it gratefully when offered. Offer help it if is asked and it is in your means to give it. Give thanks for random acts of kindness that you witness.
My Christmas Wish for you is to find contentment and joy in your little corner of the world, to look no further than that when you lay your head down on the pillow at night and to sleep peacefully in the knowledge that your grace is well earned.
Merry Christmas and the peace of the season to you.
~ Now Available Online from Amazon, Chapters Indigo or Barnes & Noble: Hunting Muskie, Rites of Passage – Stories by Michael Robert Dyet
~ Michael Robert Dyet is also the author of Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel (now out of print) which was a double winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards 2009. Visit Michael’s website at www.mdyetmetaphor.com .
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