What I Would Give

Two days till Christmas. The weather sucks, the shopping's done, I can feel smug about sitting back and avoiding the traffic and the airports. Managing to concentrate on work but not with matchless enthusiasm, that's for sure. Aspirations fading fast that I will be able to discipline myself to do anything productive tomorrow.

With little kids at home I'm fortunate to have reached the stage where I don't care about my own Christmas presents anymore, for me the best thing about the season is the focus on giving and making others happy. My mind is wandering to friends and on-line family members I have been blessed to meet these past few months. Can you love people you haven't met? I think so. I've met a handful of blogmates--you know who you are--and I consider myself very blessed to know each of you. In this on-line family I see strength and weakness and faith and doubt and hope and discouragement and determination and talent and all the other wonderful paradoxes that are part of life. Each of you inspires me. Like Bravone, I wish I could dig into a bottomless barrel of wealth and give each of you every temporal gift you ever wanted. I wish I could invoke some magical power to give you every happiness you ever sought.

With all of us so far-flung and tied down by life's commitments and resources, I know I can't do all that. But I can and do keep you in my prayers and wishes for a wonderful Christmas. If I could wish one thing for each of you, it'd be what you see in this picture. Someone's hand to hold. Someone there for you, somehow, in some way. Someone to let you know that you're not alone, that you're loved, accepted, understood. If Christmas is a tough time for you, reach out. Let someone know. Heck, let ME know. I'm only one tiny voice in cyberspace but even if I can do nothing more than provide a listening ear or keep you company for a while, I'm glad to do it.

And just as importantly, I wish for you the opportunity to be that person for someone else. I've been blessed to be able to do that more than once and few things make me happier. To be the one to extend the hand, the assurance, the caring, isn't that what the Savior would want each of us to do. In the closing words of my favorite Christmas movie "The Bishop's Wife": "Let us ask ourselves what He would wish for most, and then let us each put in our share: kind words, warm hearts, and the outstretched hand of tolerance--all the shining gifts that make peace on earth."