If you’ve read previously, you know that 2018 was a year with its challenges. I opted to stay here in Colorado this Christmas for practical reasons following those challenges. This is actually the second time in the six years since I joined the military that I have not been back to Tennessee for the holiday. Both times, I was asked countless times if it bothers or saddens me. My answer is always no. This answer does not lessen how much I miss or love my family, but I simply do not regard Christmas, or any other holiday for that matter, as a date in which I absolutely have to be with them in order to celebrate properly, to enjoy myself or most importantly, to feel or give love.
Bob Hope said, “My idea of Christmas, whether old-fashioned or modern, is very simple: Loving Others. Come to think of it, why do we have to wait for Christmas to do that?”
Why do we have to wait for Christmas to do that? Christmas is not a date. It is a state of mind. I answer people no, and tell them that it does not bother me because I can love others from anywhere on Earth (to include my friends and family!). I can feed the hungry at the Marion House Soup Kitchen. I can donate unfitting clothes to the shelter for those that need them. I can call someone I’ve not spoken to in a long time just to see how they’re doing. I can welcome those that have no one else into my own home. I can visit the ill in the hospital. I can visit the elderly at a nursing home who may especially feel alone this time of year. I can make baked goods for the Soldiers on gate guard on post. I can do unto others as I would hope they would do unto me. I can feel Christmas every time I offer my hand to another person or am offered a hand myself by another person.
When you love others, you feel good. When you feel good, you do good; and when you do good, it reminds others of what joy feels like. This reminder, in turn, just might inspire them to do the same. Christmas is not a date; it is a state of mind. It is also a necessity, as there must be at least one time of the year to remind us that we’re here on this Earth for something else besides ourselves. We are here to make a difference—to inspire joy by loving others. To echo the words of Bob Hope, why do we have to wait for December 25 to do that?
