Tonight I was reminded of the real meaning of the season that is ready to start in just a few days. I am speaking of the Christmas season. A season just short of thirty days and filled with commerialism and gotta have it's and all sort of silly nonsense! But what was worse, is that for a short minute, I found myself caught up in that mess and forgeting the real meaning and reason for this season! Oh what a silly goose I was! So because of that moment, I feel lead to write about it and remind others as I was gentley reminded.
What triggered the whole affair was I noticed something different about the little park that sits in the center of town. That little park holds two small markers in celebration of those who died fighting for our country, three swings, and a few hitching posts, and a few assorted large trees. Along one side of the park is our little corner grocery store with it's rolling and warped plank flooring. Next to it is a small laundry mat. Go down two houses and you are ready to cross the street to the bank. Cross the corner again and you are to the post office and that's all there is other than a few more houses. It's not the "Downtown Charlie Brown" affair by any means, but it's my town, one that I truly love. But anyways, it took me a moment and I finally saw what was different!
There on a pole on each corner of the park hung a large and guawdy looking snowflake! I looked at the dim and yellowed plastic flakes and shook my head and thought they had to be kidding! Oh those things were wretched, simply horrible, how could they hang anything that looked that sad! And on and on those kind of thoughts went thru my head as I stood next to my truck in the middle of that little street with a cold rain coming down! I though how dare they hang them and then it hit me like a ton of bricks! "Oh Hissy!!!" boomed that voice in my heart so loud that it hurt my ears! "How dare yo be so crass, so uncaring, so caught up by the very madness you profess to hate!" rang out that voice louder and louder! "How dare you be so egotistical that you would forget the true meaning of the season!" and that inner voice continued to pound me until I stood humble and I realized what I had done! Yes, I had been bad, very, very bad! What was I thinking I wondered!
Once again I looked at those four humble stars hanging on each corner of my little town, but this time, I looked at them without the blinders of commercialism. Then I saw what I was meant to see and remembered what it was I should have first remembered. Have you figured it out yet??? Have you figured out my error??? It is such a simple thing too but a thing awful to forget! It was that I forgot the real meaning of the season! I forgot what it all really is about!
Those humble stars were hung to remind me of a humble birth! A birth of a child in a humble stable, a place not much different than I see each day! Oh Hissy I thought, how could you be so silly to forget this! So as I gazed at those humble stars, I smiled and looked towards heaven and asked forgiveness for my ignorance! Oh what a silly little cat I am and oh how lucky I am that this child was born this season in a humble place! Yes that child is the reason that we celebrate this season and it is He who all this is really about!
So as Thanksgiving approaches, just a few short days away, I pray that you remember the real reason for the season that starts the day after we feast! I pray you remember that humble child, given to us in this season to ensure that the doors of heaven are open for us! I pray that each of us remembers to stop at least once each day to do something nice for another! I pray that each day we remember not to judge something in the manner I judged that humble star! Instead I pray that each of us can love and do something kind each day for someone, especially the stranger who may need that act of kindness to remind them that love still exists in this world! I pray that each of us remembers to be humble in our love and forgive and forget those things and people we decided to hate the past year. I pray that each of us lets go of petty greivances and replaces them with warm rememberances and fond memories of the joys of seasons past and future.
Yes, may each of us start this season in humility, in openess of heart and mind, in kindness and faith, in hope and prayer, and move foward to make tomorrow better!
Anyways, that's what my little town made me think of tonight and I felt lead to share it with all of you. I know each of us may have different beliefs, but let that not get in the way of this time. Let this season, for what ever reason, be one where no matter who we are, where we live, or what we believe in be a time of unity! Let us gather together and hold one another in love and contentment. Let us grow together in peace and teach our children the value of love and community. Let us teach our children peace and understanding. But most of all, I pray and wish it is a season of growth for us all, growth that produces a humble love that great enough to quench the hatred that permeates this world!
Thank you all for letting a little cat who isn't always as humble as she should be post these thoughts! I have learned much from each member here and those lessons have brought me forward and taught me to love greater and wider each time I come to sit in this garden! And as the little boy in the Charles Dickens story said, "God bless us each and everyone!"
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