Richard's Ramblings - December

Richard’s Ramblings…

Every now and then I come across something that expresses a little of what is on my mind in a better way than I could.  Below is a “Christmas Tree” I came across.  (With apologies to the person who wrote it, as I can’t find a reference to the author.)

Have a read:

¶

AT
CHRISTMAS
mend a quarrel,
Seek   out   a
forgotten friend.
Dismiss suspicion
and    replace    it
with trust.  Write
a     love     letter.
Share some treasure.
Give a soft answer.
Encourage youth.
Manifest your loyalty
in word and deed.
Keep    a    promise.
Find the time.  Forgo
a grudge.  Forgive an
enemy.                Listen.
Apologise if you were wrong.
Try to understand.  Flout envy.
Examine your demands on others.
Think  first  of  someone  else.
Appreciate.   Be  kind;  be  gentle.
Laugh  a  little.   Laugh  a  lot  more.
Deserve  confidence.   Take  up  arms
against   malice.    Decry   complacency.
Express  your  gratitude.   Go  to  church.
Welcome  a  stranger.   Gladden  the  heart
of a child.   Take pleasure in the beauty
and wonder of the earth.   Speak your love.
Speak it again.   Speak it still once again.
Christmas  is  celebration,  and  there  is  no
celebration that compares with the realization
of its true meaning — with the sudden stirring of
the heart that has extended itself towards the core
of  life.   Then,  only  then,  is  it  possible  to  grasp
the significance of that first Christmas — to savour in
the inward ear the wild,  sweet music of the angel choir;
to envision the star-struck sky and glimpse, behind the eyelids,
the ray of light that fell across a darkened path and changed
the world

...............

MAY YOU
HAVE A HAPPY
AND HOLY CHRISTMAS

Rev Richard Johnston
December 2011