Christmas is nearly upon us and now may be a good time to think of what Christmas means to us.
Although I am a Buddhist, Christmas is still a time with special qualities. It always makes me smile when I receive a Christmas card from my Buddhist Abbot.
It occurs at the end of the year roughly when the old pagan festival of Saturnalia was held. Maybe we humans need a celebration in order to give thanks that we have survived another year! For Christians it is, with Easter, one of the two great festivals of the birth and death of Jesus. It is a time when we acknowledge the passing of the old and the coming of the new. We show our love for others by giving presents and feasting with them in our brightly decorated homes. We remember those who have less than us and those who cannot be with us either because they are away or they have passed on. I always feel that I cannot put my heart fully into new ventures until Christmas is past. So in a sense it renews me for the coming year.
It is also a time for the new lives around us, the children, for whom it is a magical time. What a pity that they have to find out when older that Father Christmas doesnt exist! I think he should really. He is what the easterners would call a benign spirit.
I would like to wish you all a heartfelt Merry Christmas. Let us join together in love to ring out the old and ring in the new!
May all who read this know love and peace.
4 comments:
A couple of days ago at work we had to admit an elderly man to hospital who I had grown attached to. I felt a wave of sadness to think that I probably would not see him again. It made me think of the people who have to spend Christmas in hospital. So let us spare a thought for those alone and away from home at Christmas. Maybe if we make the effort to wish strangers in the street a Happy Christmas we will be spreading the Christmas message of goodwill to all men.
Merry Christmas to all of you and your families.
Love and Peace
Namaste
xxx
Mmmm well these comments have made me think about something other than worrying about whether to put my Christmas tags on my pressies tonight or to do a mountain or ironing. What a pleasure it must be to do something like that Ciariad. A friend of mine does the same thing each Christmas in a place for the homeless called the soup kitchen - it is admirable and I am sure that the people you work with, really give thanks to you for a hot meal and something to make them feel human again. Swan x
Post happy christmas greetings to everyone. I waved my mum and nephew off on their journey home to London this morning after enjoying their company over christmas. Things are starting to feel normal again which is good and bad. I have been hoovering and dusting to within an inch of my life since they left but suddenly got an urge to touch base with everyone here. This is the first christmas I have truly enjoyed since my marriage break up and I am thankful for that. I know my children enjoyed it too. Not just because of the pressies but because of the warmth and fun of the day. My thought for the day is that christmas with the ones you love and with peace in your heart (or as much as many of us can achieve in these times of broken families etc) is a special time. But for people who are alone or have just suffered a loss it is very painful as I am sure we have all experienced. I sent those people my love on christmas day and gave thanks that for this year I was happy. I lit a candle next to my dads photo just before we sat down to christmas dinner and he smiled over us as we ate. Those who have passed from our lives in any way, whether through death or through a shift or end of relationship are still with us always. As my wise mum in law once advised me over a lost love, "don't try to cut them out of your heart, or you will take a chunk of your heart out with them."
Lots of love to you all.
Gypsy x
A wonderful post from Gypsy. Good to see you back on here old girl!
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