Merry Christmas, dear Live Oak congregation!
In our family, Christmas and New Year’s blend together without a clear and beginning. We, more or less, follow the maxim that Christmas begins on December 25 and goes through January 5, just as the “12 Days of Christmas” decrees. (And then on January 6, because of my family’s connection to Louisiana, it is officially King Cake Season … but that is a column for another day.)
Through our fluidity with the Christmas season and a one-time accident that then became family tradition, It’s a Wonderful Life is for us a New Year’s Eve movie. Frankly, I think it fits in well with the assessment that naturally comes with the New Year, of recollecting the events of the past year and looking ahead, perhaps with resolutions, to the next.
In case you are one of the very few people who has never seen It’s a Wonderful Life, it’s the story of a man who is questioning the difference he had made in his life, and with the help of an angel named Clarence, comes to see objectively how he has impacted the world.
Few of us get to have any kind of objective view of our own lives, but I can say with confidence you have had more of an impact on the world than you’ll ever know. That’s just how it works. Think of people who have made a difference in your life, from teachers to family to friends … to people whose names you can no longer recall, but they said something or did something at just the right time, and it made a difference.
Now some of those people you’ve thought of — if they are still with us, maybe you can reach out to them? Perhaps all of us would have less need for angels like Clarence if we took the time to let each other know how our lives have been made better by their existence.
This is my twelfth Christmas with Live Oak and I know that my life is so much better because of the members of this congregation who have, and continue to, influence me to be a better person by their living example.
Thank you, Live Oak. And God/Goddess/Spirit of Life/Ground of All Being …. bless us, everyone!