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The magic memories of Christmas that most of us treasure are unique to each of us.
Yet, sometimes clarity comes only upon reflection.
We were so caught up with the tugs and pulls of the season that we missed the truly priceless people and moments.
We were blind to the love healing us and holding us tight in the arms, words, and actions of those we too often took for granted.
Still, we were innocent enough to see fairies dancing upon frosted lake surfaces, to taste the falling snow, and to laughingly make snow-angels.
As adults the world is too much with us.
Yet, The Great Mystery has given us one month out of 12 to see the world as the child we once were, the child we can once again be if only we put down the hates and anguish that only harm us anyway.
If the white, green, red, and blue lights don’t twinkle with their normal festive happiness and instead glower like warning beacons, it is the mind that views them that has changed.
The magic is still there, waiting for the child you once were to believe in it again.
By years of hurt and anger, you have closed the door to it.
But each time you smile to a hurried face that seems lost in life, each time you back up to allow a weary older person in line ahead of you,
each time you pause to look at the snow-layered buildings as the child you once were would see them --
you open the door to that Christmas Magic a little wider.
Every day you live can be magical if you work at it. The path of least resistence is to live in world leeched of its color and vitality by anger and hate.
Choose to find the laughter and beauty as you live each hour. Each laugh, each act of compassion is a brushstroke that adds the color of magic back to your life.
It has everything to do with a little girl’s smile and a mom who buys real candy canes for their tree so she can hear her little girl giggle as they decorate it together.
Give a smile or a laugh to someone. The present you will receive will be ... magical.
The gifts we give that matter most are the ones that cannot be bought or sold.
The love we share and the memories we leave behind, are the greatest gifts we can give. They are the only gifts that last a lifetime.
Beautiful words.
ReplyDeleteI live the Christmas spirit through my kids. Seeing how magical it is to them makes it all the more special to me.
Kindness and joy are always great gifts.
ReplyDelete"Choose to find the laughter and beauty as you live each hour. Each laugh, each act of compassion is a brushstroke that adds the color of magic back to your life." Beautiful thoughts and words, Roland.
ReplyDeleteWe see the magic in children, and the little things. Not forgetting those who need help to help others(Social systems that feed and help clothe the homeless or needy, the hampers of food, the gift of a toy to children who don't understand lack of money.) These things give me faith that man will help man, and that we will endure.
David:
ReplyDeleteYes, seeing the gleam of wonder in children's eyes and hearing their happy laughter and clapping hands restores the magic to us.
May your children have a magical Christmas.
Alex:
Indeed, the gifts of the Wise Men were soon gone, but the gifts of wonder and kindness has stayed true through the years.
D.G.:
You and David have it right: we see the magic of Christmas in the eyes of happy children. We must work this season to expand that happiness, for many children live in cold, dark, hungry homes.
Those of us who love, who help with a smile, a helping hand, or restraint of anger extend the life of humanity just a few seconds longer.
If enough of us do so, we may push back the hand of the Doomsday Clock a minute or two.
Happiest of Holidays, D.G.
What a beautiful post. And I absolutely LOVE the top picture. Perfect.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the smile and warm fuzzy feeling this post gave me. Merry Christmas to you, Roland.
Thanks, Julie:
ReplyDeleteAnd Merry Christmas to you, too. I tried to conjure the magic that is so often too lacking in this season. Thanks for visiting, Roland