’Tis the Season, as the phrase goes, seems more festive than “It is the Season,” doesn’t it? What about in the song; “Deck the Halls” — try singing the lyrics to say, “It is the season to be jolly.” Just isn’t the same.
The phrase begins to show up around Thanksgiving and disappears somewhere after Christmas and New Year’s Day. “It is” associated with parts of our lives that are warm, fun, jolly, and cheerful, and even represent forgiveness… in relationship to the people we love — our family and friends. Have you ever heard this at a Christmas party? The host may offer their special Christmas cocktail, and your response is, “Why not…!”
From time to time, we may not always experience joyfulness with our family and friends, and possibly, lose perspective on what really is important, overall. As I was going through some things the other day, I came across a note from a dear friend, along with a story. The story tells of two friends walking through the forest. During some point of their walk, the conversation turns sideways, and one friend slaps the other friend on the face. The one who got slapped was hurt, more in her heart than really from the sting of the slap, and she picked up a stick and wrote in the dirt, “Today my best friend slapped me in the face.”
They kept on walking until they came along a beautiful river; it was a hot August day so they decided to take a swim. The one who had been slapped was getting swept away by the current, and starting to drown. The best friend, who was an award-winning swimmer, was able to grab her friend and pull her to safety on the bank of the river.
After the rescued friend recovered from nearly drowning, she wrote on a stone, “Today my best friend saved my life.” The friend who had slapped her and also saved
her life asked, “After I hurt you, you wrote in the dirt, and now, you write on a stone, why?” She replied, “When someone hurts us, we should write it down in dirt, where
the winds and rain of forgiveness can erase it away, but when someone does something good for us, we must engrave it in stone where no storm can ever erase it.”
The card inserted with this story from my friend said, “True friendships are blessings, and hopefully they can withstand the winds brought on by life’s storms.” Love, Lois and I have been friends now for over 36 years.
We met in college and have cabins next to each other on Echo Lake. I look back and realize if we had not let the wind and rain of forgiveness be part of our lives on a few occasions (36 years is a long time), we would have missed out on so many stones of time such as when our babies were born, the many golfing and ski trips we have taken over the years with our families… or the countless hours on Echo Lake and the evening fires at the fire pit…
I have a “90/10 Rule” I like to live my life by. For whatever reason, our natural tendency as human beings is to take a situation that is minor overall to the big picture of life and spend all this negative energy wrapped around it. Instead, we should focus on the greatness around us 90 percent of the time, and manage the 10 percent IMMEDIATELY when it happens. Grow from it and move on…
We all do it. I owned a specialty retail store a few years back and chose to sell and take time to stay home with our children who were 3, 10 and 13 at the time… (In
hindsight, I would have kept the business and found the right person to manage it.) I had women crying in my store when I decided to give it up; they came together and made a memory quilt, and as my customers came in for the last time they could share their best wishes on the quilt… I cherish that quilt today… one very good customer sent me a card, “…this is like a death in my family.”
Yet I also remember from back then that a woman I had not seen in many years marched triumphantly right back to my tiny little office and said, “Finally, I am so glad
your business is failing and you are closing!” OMG, what do you say to something like this? All because of a misunderstanding over a sewing machine. The fault was the
manufacturer’s, and they tried to make it good… but she was just plain mean! Still, what did I focus on for days, his cruel woman, and this silly moment in time, and how
she did not like me… REALLY!
‘Tis the Season to engrave stones for your family, friends and co-workers; and manage the storms as they come and go, looking for that rainbow to guide us
to receive and give the gift of forgiveness.
As always, at Central we are dedicated to providing solutions for you to enjoy this “Joyful” time of year, your comfort is our Central concern for all your heating, cooling,
plumbing, electrical & drain cleaning needs…Merry Christmas.