For those that believe in the spirited magic that exists behind the persona of Santa Claus, author Tara Taylor Quinn sums it superbly well when she writes that ... “Santa Claus is a doer. He exists in those who know about the magic of love, who see a need and address it; who enrich the life of someone else just because they can. Santa Claus is a spirit, a power that comes over normal mortals and gives them the ability to do something extraordinary for someone else. To buy something they wouldn't ordinarily do - simply to make someone smile. A Santa Claus wants only to make his or her small portion of the world a better place. Santa Claus is everyone who believes in the power of love”.
In essence, it is this love that continues to bind all of us together as brothers and sisters. We are sons and daughters of the Divine. Nick Bunick, author of In God's Truth, puts it rather succinctly when he writes ... “You are not a human being, that by coincidence, has a spirit and a soul. You are spirit with a soul that is having a human experience”.
Nick goes further to say that ... “When you provide love and compassion to your brothers and sisters, you yourself, are manifesting God. When you come to understand that our bodies are nurtured by food and rest, but our spirits and souls are nurtured by experiencing love and compassion, then you come to understand and know God”.
Let us take the time throughout this festive season to ponder and delve further into our belief systems and personal philosophies. Let us take the time to thank the Creator for the treasures that He/She continues to provide. What we do for one, we do for ourselves. What we neglect to do for one, we neglect to do for ourselves.
Many of us are yet to make the connection between this interconnectedness that we all share. The dawning of understanding will come only when we wholeheartedly embrace love and compassion for all.
If I may now share something from Neale Donald Walsch, author of the Conversations With God series ... “The Christmas celebration itself has gotten so big, so almost out of hand, that it seems that a lot of different people have a lot of different ideas about what it's all about. It's about the birth of the savior, for sure, but only if the savior is born again right now. We have been told that there was a savior born in a manger many, many years ago. But here is something that we have not often been told -- there has been a savior born every night and every day and every minute somewhere on this planet, from the beginning. What if each of us was intended to be a savior? What if we all were? What if every time someone is born, a savior is born? The only question then would be, whether we know it or not”.
Neale goes further to say that ... “There is something very special we are celebrating during the days and weeks ahead, and it feels to me that it's larger than any one person or any one religion or any one spiritual doctrine. There's a feeling that millions of people experience at this time of year -- they experience it in common and they experience it together. And boy, I'm sorry if this sounds naïve, or even sappy, but I think that feeling can be put into one word -- LOVE. Now if Love really is what we are celebrating here, it will not matter what kind of package it comes in, what kind of dogma it's wrapped in, or what kind of doctrine it's flavored with. It would only matter whether it was real and true, and present here and now -- in our lives and in our world. And there is one way to guarantee that it is ... by putting it there. It is, in the end, up to us”.
Neale continues by saying that ... “If we want humanity to receive the true gift of Christmas, and if we want to have it last the whole year through, we have to agree to become, each of us in our own way, the savior. Nothing that is going on during this special time will have any meaning until I give it meaning in my own life, and in the lives of others. All of us do, and if we will give ourselves permission to see it that way, and to see ourselves that way -- as the person making the choice, as the person modeling the choice, as the person sharing the choice -- we can save the day for humanity. The savior can be born again when we allow Love Unconditional to be born again in our hearts”.
Neale concludes with ... “If you think of someone with love right now, as you are reading this, light a candle in your heart. Whether the person you are thinking of is in the body or has left their earthly body, it will not matter. He or she will feel it. And this is how it begins. Through simple acts such as this. I promise you. The love for another that you ignite in your heart is ignited in the heart of the other. The light may be dim at first, but it will never go out. It cannot, as long as you keep placing it there. That was the message of the man whose birth I celebrate at Christmas. So here's the gift you can give this season. Help me be that. And, for that matter, help everyone whose life you touch. Do it by loving them, simply, plainly, openly, without condition. Return them to themselves. Let's give it to each other, and to all people everywhere. Then, the savior is born .... in us. And then we can bring, we can truly bring, Joy to the World”.
If this is not the TRUE SPIRIT of this season, I do not know what is.
May all your dreams come true in 2010. May each and every one continue to feel the blessings of this life.
Espavo,
Michele, Albert, Alyssa, Niall and Chebogue (our 16 pound feline)
December 2009
