Merry Christmas!!!

I've looked in the mirror before and seen a man broken by sadness, broken by disappointment and broken by human beings bent on selfishness, greed, power and every other sin. There were many times in my life where I could have let despair overpower me. No matter what there was in my life that was happening, there was always something there, deep within me down to my very soul, that kept me from completely breaking, that kept me from being overwhelmed and letting myself go into self-pity and total worthlessness.

We all have our list of tragedies and I will save you from mine as it most likely would drive a normal human being insane. I could write a book myself and probably get a made-for-TV movie out of it if I really wanted to air the family's dirty laundry on TV like they do on Jerry Springer or Maury Povich. I will never fathom how people could share their most intimate details of their tragic lives on television.

Why do we go on? Is it greed? Is it selfishness? Is it lust? Is it anyone of those seven deadly sins that give us the drive to continue when all seems lost? No, of course it isn't. We know what motivates us to go on! It is truly obvious. It is HOPE for a better day and/or life! It is LOVE of those people who mean the most to us. It is the desire to be LOVED and recognized for the good people that we can be. It is the hope for JOY in our lives. We are looking for happiness. We are looking for goodness in all things. We are seeking all that is good in life. But, most of all what we truly need is FAITH. Our FAITH in people to have the TRUST that is important to each relationship we have with friends, family and acquaintances. We seek to be RESPECTed and with FAITH, HOPE, LOVE and JOY this can be accomplished.

I was talking to a good friend Friday evening and our conversation came to a commonality between the two of us. We look at everyone as our friends immediately. We instantly put trust, hope and respect in the people we meet, seeking only a friend. This only goes away when they give us a reason to no longer have this confidence in our relationship with them. But we are always being respectful to our new-found friends and we want to share in the goodness of our friendship and love them as we would want to be loved. It brings us joy to share good times with our friends and to be selfless in our relationships. We are sometimes looked upon as naive or illogical but there is a logic to it. There is something wonderful about our nature. We actually do look at people as innocent until proven guilty. We do wish to give until it hurts so that people can recognize the goodness in each other. We do want to love others as we would want to be loved. While we, my friend and I, are of two very different religious organizations, we are of the same mind.

But, as for Christmas, we were given the light, the Son of God, who was created to save us from our sins and bring us safely to His Kingdom. The Gospels testify to this and to the Light of Christ. May we come to know these Gospels and may we live them so that others may also come to know the Gospels, the Word, the Son of God, the true meaning of Christmas. May we not only see the LIGHT and testify to LIGHT but also BE the LIGHT to others. May God bless you all and have a very, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!