Bah, Humbug?

I've yet MORE "Spring cleaning" to do here. Does it never end?

Yesterday, whilst purchasing dog food of all things, at the nearest garden centre with a pet department, I had a browse though all the Christmas decorations with a view to hanging some in the studio and office to keep myself and clients cheery. I became increasingly uncomfortable however, as I came to wondering this....

We live in an increasingly secular society and yet the celebration of "Christ~Mass" seems to become ever more immense and intense by the year.

Why?

With the lessening emphasis on something meaningful and fulfilling, do people look ever more desperately to the material to fill a spiritual vaccuum?

Surely this is banging a square peg into a round hole?

Why, in the midst of a continuing financial crisis do so many seem to bend the plastic to spend MORE?

No, it's not a case of "Bah Humbug" as Scrooge would have said.

Are we SO far out of touch with how to appreciate those we love on a daily basis? Are we SO busy in our daily work that we are too tired to show our loved ones how much they mean to us? Do we have to make "dates" with our partners, make too much of an effort find time to play with our children....do we assume that gifts can make up for time a embraces and communication? How much does material success mean if at the end of the day you are not able to share it.


A couple of days ago, I heard some terrible news concerning a former work colleague and friend.

She was in the prime of life. She was on holiday with a loved one. She was enjoying life and happy.....and then, with no warning , she was involved in an accident and killed instantly.

How do any of us know what really lies ahead?

At the end of the day, if our lives were to end sooner rather than later, would any of us wish we'd spent another hour in the office or another hour with a loved one?

Will our work colleagues post an obituary which reads " Beloved company director, darling partner of the firm, adored by his subordinates, always in our hearts...."

I doubt it?

I admire ambition, commitment, hard work and achievement, but if "success" means the failure of personal happineess, is it really "success" at all.

This returns me to the matter of Christmas.

Do the ever more extravagent parties or the ever more lavish gifts mean that we love and appreciate the people in our lives any more?

May none of us ever substitute those things for the one most valuable gift we can give love ~ means everything, costs nothing at all.

Children give it most freely of all.

Maybe that is why in the Christian story ~ the foundation the celebration on December 25, whether you want to acknowledge it or not ~ God became an infant to be born into the world in the form of a little child filled with unquestioning and unquestionable love.

Not all of want to be parents, not all of us are able to be....but we have all BEEN a child ourselves and most of us can well remember what it is to love unconditionally, parents, friends...even if we don't want to admit it ~ siblings!If we could love like that once...we still can ~ if we can move on from the hurts that life has allowed us to experience along the way and let them matter less than our ability to hope and love again.

Whether you are a Christian or not, there is deep significance in the Christmas story for all.

Whatever your faith or path in life, may Love and the time to share it's matchless riches be yours today.

~Cate