Wonder

Our lives are filled with anxiety and weather forecasts. We celebrate anniversaries and birthdays. We remember many events, many moments of hope, peace, and love. The newspapers are filled with many stories about various crimes, natural disasters, and human suffering. Each and every day of our lives we are reminded of the fragility of life; we learn of the death of this child, of that young woman, of this old man.

As we celebrate the birth of Christ, we must also remember his death, his sacrifice for all of us. A young and peaceful man died on the cross for us.

And yet we still rush about with sad dark faces staring into cups of hot green tea, steaming coffee, hot chocolate worrying about this and that. Sometimes our minds allow ambition to control us, to want to be a big fish in a little river. We slouch toward hope, love.

These things do happen everywhere at sometime during the day.

We must remember the Christ's gift to us, his sacrifice for us. Our minds, hearts, and souls should always be filled with wonder, love, and respect for God; our gaze must always be directed toward God.

Our faith will guide us in the right direction. Our prayers will strengthen us. We are allowed to ask God for anything. Our faith reminds us to be patient; God will provide the answers that we need at the appropriate time.

We live in a time of insistent and insipid advertisement fighting for our attention, fighting to influence our thoughts, fighting to encourage us to make impulsive decisions. As Christians we must ignore the constant solicitations, keep our hearts and minds focused on following Christ, loving everyone, living and promoting lives of social justice for everyone.

How wonderful life would be if we promoted charity, humility, and compassion.

As we celebrate Christmas we must always allow ourselves a moment of calm, a moment of peace to reflect on the goodness and grace that God has given to us. We must allow ourselves a moment of quiet to reflect and to praise God.