With only 16 days before one of the biggest days of the year, the planning, purchasing, decorating, party and meal preparations, gift wrapping, light hanging and garland frenzy, THE DAY is approaching at lightning speed!
When you find yourself on THAT DAY surrounded by family and friends, a mixture of some you love and some you don’t, some that fall in-between, you will face a dilemma that is far more important than not incorporating the latest decorating trend; you will find yourself in a dilemma of choice over how to relate to the ‘someones’ who fall in the middle range of those you love and those you don’t. This is when perspective can become a relationship saver for THAT DAY which of course is Christmas. It’s the one day when the choice should be to take the high road and ‘love anyway’.
For the sake of perspective, think on those who gave you a hand in life when you had done nothing to deserve it or when you benefited from an act of kindness that you meant to follow-up and thank the person but failed to, or the persona who made a difference in your life and you’ve lost touch with them; or when you were ill and a person that you least expected came to your rescue. We are all somewhat indebted to others who have given us a hand without us returning to thank them properly, it keeps us thankful and can keep pride at a distance.
On Christmas day when I finally sit down to a feast with my extended family I’m not thinking about the designer wall color, the beautiful fabric used in the treatments and custom furnishing, oh no, I’m looking around the table at the hearts of those who have impacted my life, some for the better and some with difficulty who overall have caused my love to grow deeper and wider, sometimes forcing me to enlarge my acceptance of differences all for the sake of ‘loving anyway and serving those I love graciously.
May this Christmas for you result in a deeper, broader and embracing kind of love that goes beyond the decor and into the hearts of those who will surround your table. And when they leave your home hopefully they would have experienced the grandest DAY of all, a day that was birthed in Love for mankind.