Christmas tree lights are twinkling, champagne is in the fridge, and gifts wrapped with bows and paper peek out from under the tree like a small avalanche of good wishes. In the kitchen, a lovely fat roast is cooking, its aroma teasing us with promise. Scrubbed faces smiling, raised glasses in cheer and goodwill, soft music or a family movie playing. It is a season for gentleness towards each other and reflection on a year well spent, to focus on the good things in life and the positive things in our communities and indeed the world.
There are wonderful things all around us that we neglect to see simply because our busy lives channel us into one way of thinking or one way of viewing the world. We hardly have time to think. So – too frequently – we don’t.
The news has become too politicized. We take aboard our daily dose of human misery and hardly notice the poison entering our souls. We actually begin to believe that as a species we are some kind of blight upon the world. Have you noticed how such a negative message is dished up to us in small cumulative packets? Daily we are informed that we are “Bad” for being the creative creatures we are, “Bad” for using the intelligence God or Nature gave us, “Bad” for inventing things, “Bad” for wanting the best for our families, “Bad” for existing – hell’s bells, “Bad” even for breathing.
If I could give anything to the world this Christmas, it would be that we could recognize the majesty of our being [continue reading…]