Waging war in our society: the warm simplicity of gifts from the heart vs. the insecurity of goliath consumerism.
From Denny: Somehow this year's holiday season has taken on an intensified gravity since the economic downturn. Finally, after decades of excess consumerism, the whole world has turned their thoughts to serious and deeper thinking beyond how much they can spend at the local mall for Christmas. While I enjoy the giving of gifts as much as the next person, at some point it's wise to balance it with reflection upon the season. It's good to be generous with others on more levels than a present under the tree.
While I was researching for some wonderful Christmas quotes there are a number that stood out and really helped the thinking process for this poem story. Three are incorporated into the poem and here are a few more:
Quotes
Christmas is not as much about opening our presents as opening our hearts. - Janice Maeditere
I wish we could put up some of the Christmas spirit in jars and open a jar of it every month. - Harlan Miller
Perhaps the best Yuletide decoration is being wreathed in smiles. - Anonymous
And a tiny Christmas poem:
A Christmas candle is a lovely thing'
It makes no noise at all,
But softly gives itself away. - Eva Logue
Gifts From The Heart
Isn’t it odd how the Christmas season is already upon us?
The TV news declares skinny wallets for the holidays.
The TV blares at us to go shopping on Black Friday.
The very name is creepy, more so when you realize one thing:
That’s the time of year when businesses finally turn a profit.
They are hoping against Hope for this season of gift giving
As the escalating volume follows me out of the room, escaping their plea.
Get validated twice...
Every year someone speaks up, refocusing us away from consumerism.
Every year most of it falls on deaf ears, “The Reason for the Season.”
Every year I choose to think my own thoughts of Life’s mysteries.
For millennia sage thinkers gifted us inspiring thoughts of Wisdom.
Hope offered up for humanity while they pondered the human condition.
Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness, says the Chinese Proverb.
How true it is to light our inner candle than to complain there is no light in the world.
Buddha advised, Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, man cannot live without a spiritual Life.
How true it is that a person is but a sleep-walking body if not enjoying their spirit.
There it is, the Truth: For the spirit of Christmas fulfills the greatest hunger of mankind, says Loring A. Schuler.
There is something deep inside every person that can feel empty.
There is that intangible something that craves more from the world than we can touch.
There is something we can’t seem to well define yet desire anyway with a ranging search.
We keep looking outside ourselves for something more, something greater.
Yet what we want, what we look for unceasingly, lives quietly waiting inside us.
What is greater can be found by turning our eyes inward to find the mystery.
The spirit of Christmas is about Love, a Love without limits, filling up that void.
The spirit of Christmas is about Hope, a Hope to recognize all that we are now.
The spirit of Christmas gathers up the whole world into a conspiracy to Love.
And that’s why Jesus came, to remind us to reconnect and choose to Love.
When we choose to really Love, the problems suddenly and easily evaporate.
Loving involves us in caring and listening - then the inner wars swiftly halt.
Loving feeds us with so much energy all wars cease, transforming into Peace.
Love + Peace = Joy in the New World!
Denny Lyon
Copyright 10 Dec 2009
All Rights Reserved
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Photo Credits
Christmas tree photo by SashaW @ flickr
Jesus is Lord parking sign photo by PetroleumJelliffe @ flickr
Hanukkah menorah photo by skpy @ flickr
Candles in the wind photo by Photos8.com @ flickr
Christmas is coming red star photo by alicepopkorn @ flickr - When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy. - Rumi
Old church door photo by Photos8.com
Candle in the window of Jesus’ Tomb, Jereusalem photo by Photos8.com @ flickr - "Jesus Tomb Window - Window on the Rotunda in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem. The Rotunda of the Anastasis beneath the larger of the church's two domes, in the center of which is The Edicule of the Holy Sepulchre itself. The Edicule has two rooms. The first one holds The Angel's Stone, a fragment of the stone believed to have sealed the tomb after Jesus' burial. The second one is the tomb itself."
Holy Dip in sea at dawn at Dhanuskodi photo by sunciti_sundaram, TO VIEW VARIETY @ flickr
