WRITEON FOR DECEMBER 28, 2022
Open yer heart to someone new? Grateful for a peaceful and holy Christmas? Did you run into someone you’d not seen for a long time? Did you have good health news? Were you amazed at some special present or person during the holy days? Did you hear some wonderful music, feed the hungry, or visit those in prison? What kind of fun did you create for some kids? And after all that...it’s over…many breathe a sigh of relief…as we look straight into the eyes of 2023 and wonder…what next?
Maybe your family is plagued with sickness…what will bring some joy? Or maybe your team has lost time and again, what will change the tide? Maybe you are looking for something to do, something you can bring to the table and yer not quite sure…well, Susan Cooper in Silver on the Tree reminds us: “The hope is always here, always alive, but only your fierce caring can fan it into a fire to warm the world.” What fire will you fan?
Gloomy weather brings ya down…sunshine perks us up. So, we have to be sunshine sometimes in the gloom around us…not always so easy. Maybe we feel with Roald Dahl, an English author, who had this thought: “If I had my way, I’d remove January from the calendar altogether and add an extra July instead!”. Not sure what birthday people in January would think about that, or the speed with which the July folks would age…but he makes a point. New years are as the new day… only one at a time.
We can’t help but pray and desire peace, real peace, worldwide along with our first President: “Peace with all the world is my sincere wish.” (George Washington, 1798). The only way there, however, is through the doors of justice…not ‘just-us’ but reconciliation and hope for those bound in chains of disarray. It may seem silly, or too simple, but my heart lies with Christina Rossetti, an English poet, who asks that all living things be respected and valued…the degree to which I can learn to reverence all of creation will teach me to love. In Hurt No Living Thing, she writes “Hunt no living thing, ladybird nor butterfly; Nor moth with dusty wing, Not cricket chirping cheerily, Nor grasshopper so light of leap. Not dancing gnat, not beetle fat, Not harmless worms that creep.” You might notice she makes no mention here of mosquitos…clearly does not live in Mississippi!
Finally as this year closes and we pay tribute to the many who have gone before us…to those who have supported us, who has responded and taken care of us, who have shown us love that surprised us…we are invited with Joan W. Blos, another USA author in A Gathering of Days to be filled with joy, humor and good sense: “Remember we used to say, that life is like a pudding: it takes both the salt and the sugar to make a really good one.” Yummy new year.
BLESSINGS.
