Aristo! Aristo! A la lanterne!: Merry Christmas to me

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Merry Christmas to me

This morning, I challenge myself to put down only words positive. I awoke to opportunities in forgiveness, or least forgetness, as past ghosts chose Christmas day to come calling. So often I liken myself to Scrooge, and now I have the creepy spirits crawling back as proof.

Thoughts turn to words... not helpful. I'll not dwell on them; My challenge. Instead, look for the lesson towards the good.

What I find is this, and gold it is: I need not fall under the weight of past mistakes, no matter how they are shoveled upon my shoulders unbidden.

My life has moved past that, and I accept the mistakes I made in judgement and belief. While I have regrets.... I also experienced the love I felt, and it was good. In the pain of being taught how wrong I was in my faith, there was born another life where such hurt is dissolved away to leave behind peace.

Anger... turns to pity.

Wounds... distill to only memories.

Grievous hurt... leaves behind only sadness at what might have been.

So, this Christmas morning there is no sparkly tree in my window, nor shiny presents for me to unwrap in glee. Instead, I find a much more valuable gift arrives as a few tortured and misspelled sentences from the ghost of a former life. An invitation to feel guilt where none is deserved, an opportunity to open old wounds, a chance to dredge up deeply held regrets.

The gift... is in my learning that it no longer hurts. The gift... is in showing me, by contrast, just how good my life is now.

Thank you, and Merry Christmas to you too!

5 comments:

TenMile said...: Have a good day back East, Teach.; December 25, 2011 at 6:49 AM
Peter said...: Blessings of the season to you and yours, Sir. I hope the New Year brings peace to you, and all good things.

WV - 'decilici' - referring to the turkey, perhaps?; December 25, 2011 at 8:42 AM
Unknown said...: I was thinking about regret recently. Initially it serves a purpose, but after a while it gets in the way of one's ability to use the lessons learned from mistakes.

It would be foolish to ignore the past, but it's just nutty to bury yourself under it.; December 25, 2011 at 9:18 AM
Z@X said...: From one old grinch to another,

Merry Christmas!; December 25, 2011 at 10:20 AM
Rev. Paul said...: May your day be filled with only good things, and the knowledge that there is still peace, joy, love, forgiveness, and kindness in the world ... and it often arrives unbidden, without fanfare.

You are loved, Teach. Merry Christmas!; December 25, 2011 at 2:05 PM

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Robert Heinlein

"Do not confuse "duty" with what other people expect of you; they are utterly different. Duty is a debt you owe to yourself to fulfill obligations you have assumed voluntarily. Paying that debt can entail anything from years of patient work to instant willingness to die. Difficult it may be, but the reward is self-respect.

But there is no reward at all for doing what other people expect of you, and to do so is not merely difficult, but impossible. It is easier to deal with a footpad than it is with the leech who wants "just a few minutes of your time, please — this won't take long." Time is your total capital, and the minutes of your life are painfully few. If you allow yourself to fall into the vice of agreeing to such requests, they quickly snowball to the point where these parasites will use up 100 percent of your time — and squawk for more!
So learn to say No — and to be rude about it when necessary.
Otherwise you will not have time to carry out your duty, or to do your own work, and certainly no time for love and happiness. The termites will nibble away your life and leave none of it for you.

(This rule does not mean that you must not do a favor for a friend, or even a stranger. But let the choice be yours. Don't do it because it is "expected" of you.)"