Tag: Happy New Year

Don’t Squander the Gifts

The New Year is upon us.  I pause and look back to look ahead.

I’ve realized that sometimes I squander my gifts. I am blessed with a lot for which I should be, and I am thankful. I live a blessed life with a loving partner, family, friends, inspiring and rewarding work, and Rashi, the Portuguese Wonder (water) Dog.

But when things are good, we tend to take them for granted. When we don’t appreciate them thoroughly, we risk losing them. We all must continue nurturing them so they do not slip away from neglect.

It is too easy to forget that. We can all be neglectful, expecting the good things always to be there.

So, let’s not squander our gifts. Take a moment to reflect on what is truly meaningful in your life. Commit to celebrating and nurturing our core values and relationships. And make sure to let those special people in your lives know it.  Please do not take any of it for granted.

I enter the year hoping to focus on the truly important things, the people, and the values I hold dear.  I hope you do that, too, as we enter 2025.

Wishing everyone a happy and healthy New Year!

 

 

 

 

This Christmas, Let’s enjoy what we have

Each year I hear the following:

~Put Christ back into Christmas

~Get materialism out of Christmas

~Don’t Mix Hanukkah and Christmas

Do this, don’t do that; lots of proscriptions  and prescriptions.  But maybe we might pause and  appreciate it precisely as it is.

Christmas is more than the birthday of Jesus.  Indeed, as we all know, it is not the day of his birth. That Christmas is more than the  marking of Jesus’ birth is not new.  The idea that we may universalize the message of the holiday has been at the heart of a Christian message, softly spreading of the values at its core.  I have always been taken by the beauty of the idea expressed in John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son…”  It is a message of love and light and our world does not have enough of either.  The message is enlightening and one I can deeply appreciate even if I do not embrace the theology.

To those who attend mass or use this as a moment of sacred holiness,  I stand respectfully quiet.  To those who decorate homes with all kinds of festive lights, I drive by like a tourist taking in the spectacle, even grading for taste, presentation, originality, and use of the secret ingredient (with deference to Iron Chef).  For those who gather the family to share a meal and time together, I only wish we had more reasons to do that.  For those who give gifts, no matter how big or small, I hope that each gift is an expression of love and caring for both the giver and the receiver, bringing both close together.

Christmas in America is beautiful, even those parts some of us just don’t get.  But that is okay.  So, to everyone,  a very Merry Christmas (and a Happy New Year)!