A Christmas Message

     As I sit in the darkness before the sun's illumination blankets the day, on this Christmas morning, I can't help but to think of a similar morning half a world away and separated from the present by two thousand years. And in the solitude of my thoughts with the gentle sounds of the morning awakening, I am led to feel joy, hope and a sense of the blessing that comes from knowing something more than this ephemeral world. If you are Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist or Atheist, the peace, joy and love of this season is for you. It does not discriminate based on belief, but it is available to all who will claim it.
     When I was a child, Christmas meant time off school and the receiving of gifts. The anticipation of weeks and months was washed away in one felled swoop on Christmas morning. And even though I knew the impetus for this yearly holiday, my appreciation for it was undeveloped and immature. I was, after all, just a child. As I grew into adulthood and fathered my own child, I was blessed to experience Christmas from a different perspective. I felt the joy of my child on Christmas morning, which was at the same time similar to my own as a child, and yet it was somehow more meaningful to this grown man. The anticipation I felt was the anticipation of giving, and the joy of the unwrapping was borne of bringing joy to my child. In recent years with the appearance of grand-children, Christmas has taken on an even deeper meaning than anticipation and gifts, there is still the joy that comes from those things, but there is something more. There is the realization that the larger meaning of Christmas somehow transcends childhood and even adulthood to a place where the attributes of Christmas like peace, love and joy are fully realized and exist outside the bounds of human frailty.
     So on this Christmas morning, and always, may the blessings of the child born long ago and whom ultimately sacrificed his earthly life for all mankind, be with you in your heart. And for those who may not believe in that child, I wish the joy, peace and love which has created this very special day. These are the things which that child beckons us to believe and burn into our hearts as a guide as we make our way through this world and into the greater one that follows.

              Merry Christmas Everyone !