So This Is Christmas

I'm sitting here listening to "Happy Christmas" by John Lennon and cannot help but be moved by the song.

It says in there "so this is Christmas, and what have you done? another year over and a new one just begun."

I get stuck at the question "What have you done?" Here in America, it seems we only remember to be charitable at this time when we are having seasonal songs surrounding us and feeding us with ideas of love, peace and charity. Why can't we create this idea to last all year round?

Simple as it may be, I'm challenging myself and anyone who would like to participate, let's find a way to make this feeling last all year round. Shed some light in someone else's life with completely unselfish motives except to sincerely help another human being. It could be simple as a smile to a stranger in the parking lot, to helping someone carry out groceries, anonymous donations to a family in need, volunteering, just something. Let's do something so next year when we hear John Lennon ask us once again, "What have you done?" we can answer with a positive list of all the love and light we have showered onto others.

Have a very Merry Christmas!

Sometimes, you get a little lost

I am not sure what it is, age, senility, idleness or what, but in the past couple years I have allowed myself to think thoughts I have blocked out for my entire life.






Because of this, for a better part of this year I have questioned why my beliefs are what they are and are they right? I am fairly certain I am not the only person in her late 20's to formulate these questions. In fact, I think I may be late to the party.






I don't know how to best explain my journey of this year. I found myself being more open-minded than ever regarding others beliefs, respectful, even inquisitive. Who am I to beat them on the head and tell someone they are wrong? I certainly never like to be told I am wrong or all the basis of what I was raised with was incorrect. I mean who really knows what is right and wrong? Can life really be so starkly black and white? When it comes down to "christian" beliefs as the world defines it, we are mostly along the same basics, believing and using the bible. The key difference among us, the doctrines of all the different religions.






I believe as humans, we all desire the same thing, belief in a higher power, eternal love, peace, guidance, respect. Somewhere in all this doubt I think I hit near the bottom questioning it all. I didn't have the answers to any of this, how am I supposed to know??





And then it hit me.....one small five letter word can make all the difference in these questions. It's that "f" word that some no longer desire to say. I can't tell you the last time I have heard this word outside of a church setting. It is defined in Merriam Webster's Dictionary as:





1
a : allegiance to duty or a person : loyalty b (1) : fidelity to one's promises (2) : sincerity of intentions
2
a (1) : belief and trust in and loyalty to God (2) : belief in the traditional doctrines of a religion b (1) : firm belief in something for which there is no proof (2) : complete trust
3
: something that is believed especially with strong conviction; especially : a system of religious beliefs

Did you get it??? Faith.







Faith is an integral role in our beliefs. This epiphany slapped me in the face one morning as I witnessed several women with unmoving devotion and faith pray fervently for their children, others health, the well-being of the world-mentally, physically and spiritually. They were so selfless and full of a love that I do not believe we are capable of as human beings on our own. I sat listening, silent and on the verge of tears, trying to choke them down in the public setting I was at. I was ashamed that I spent the better part of this year questioning, what I came from, what was the basis of who I am.





It's interesting, I'm sure you inferred this, but this year I got a little lost. In the words of Pink Floyd, I became "comfortably numb." But it was sitting there, listening to those women pray, that I found myself again. I began to feel again, I felt God's unmoving presence. I swear to you, there is no such stronger faith than that of a woman praying for her children. It is unmovable and eternal.





Now throughout my lost period, I didn't care for the cynical person I had become but there are a few things I believe I may have benefited from. I have become more curious about others and their cultures, to the extent I would love to study what others believe and why. Do others believe in faith outside of the christian belief system? I have become more diplomatic and respectful of others. I have learned to see in each and every person's eyes how full of life they are, even if they are at the point of drowning, maybe they need my helping hand, my smile or my simple hello to let them know they are not on their own in this world and they are in fact still alive. Maybe my actions can pull them out of the proverbial water they are drowning in.





It's funny, throughout the past year I have been searching for something new, a way out from where the hole I was finding myself in. But I have always felt in the midst of all of my frustration, a peace, I was right where God wanted me. And I bet you I was, otherwise I would never have witnessed those women. I still feel like I'm right where God wants me and I know He is going to use me, I have been feeling this stirring about it all. I'm just not certain for what, but that is where my faith comes in.

Maybe it is all black and white.

"Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 18:3 NIV