All
About Love
“If you
want to believe in the magic of love, you must practice magic by
loving.”
Toni
Sorenson
The Christmas season is
the time of year we practice love more than any other time. We give
gifts wrapped in bright shiny paper and tied with bows—symbolizing
our connections with one another—and we bake (or buy) and ply our
neighbors with cakes and sweets to indicate how much we appreciate
them. We bundle into the car, and pick up the old lady who lives two
blocks away, for the Christmas concert at church. We sing the old
hymns from memory and smile at strangers while we're at it. We get
truly caught up in the “love season.”
At Christmas, we remember
all the reasons we appreciate our families. Who knows what makes us
suddenly love people we didn't appreciate two months ago; that causes
us to be sweet even to great-aunt Lettie, who dribbles and says
snarky things to everyone at the table. But something does. It's
undeniable. Come January we'll go right back to being disenchanted
with everyone, but for now, in this season of light, our hearts are
uncompromisingly generous.
Yesterday, at the Bell
Choir Concert, a father sat in front of us with his little baby boy.
The baby, in a carrier seat, was just at the developmental stage
where hands and feet are the preferred plaything. That father was so
in love with his son that he practically glowed, and I, myself, was
transfixed by the chunky little baby feet being kicked through the
air and gnawed on. It's almost like some sort of love-madness grips
us this time of year.
Maybe there
really is something to the story of the baby in the manger, and the
angel's message to the shepherds: “I bring you good news of
great joy, which shall be FOR ALL PEOPLE.” (Luke 2:10) Oh, yes,
All People—even us, two-thousand years later. We don't have to be,
or do, anything special to be included—Jew, Christian, Muslim,
Hindu, Taoist, Agnostic, Atheist—ALL people. It's a gift! Free of
strings! Maybe that memory is what has us all love-infused and
smiling. That baby boy's chubby little feet and the obvious devotion
of his father were the perfect reminders of what this season is all
about. It's all about love.
In the
Spirit,
Jane
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