As we grow older, the concepts of gifts change and the energy with which we receive them changes.
I remember being a kid and waiting with such anticipation for Christmas... for the decorations, the family, the celebration... and the GIFTS...
What would Santa bring?
As you get older the level of excitement seems to dissipate, the things we want become harder to wrap, either because you can't touch them... or they are too big...
What "gift" would I ask Santa for this year?
More time to breathe deeply and enjoy time with those I love?
That is what I really want... not just time, but time with peace of mind.
Not sure how you wrap that ;-)
I do realize that everyday I have time. Everyday I have at least a little time with those I love...
Do I pause long enough to realize it?
Do I pause long enough to enjoy it?
Sometimes...
On Christmas, we put the gifts under the tree, and we physically get to unwrap them which makes them more obviously a gift.
Maybe part of my problem is that the gifts that I receive EVERYDAY aren't wrapped, and so it's easier to take them for granted.
But, sometimes they come wrapped in a hug.
Sometimes they are laced with a gorgeous sunrise.
Sometimes the words are spoken and not on a card.
EVERYDAY I receive gifts... and many of them.
But, too often still, I fail to unwrap them.
On this Christmas Eve, regardless of your faith, take a moment and consider the gifts that you find under your "tree" everyday.
One of the greatest gifts that I received this year is a new player on my soccer team. He is from South America and his family recently moved into this area. Having him on our team this year was a gift. No, not because he was a great player, although he was. The gift that he gave me was that he brought back so many memories.
His family doesn't know how the world works in the U.S. Much as my family did not. They don't understand the logistics, the culture.
I picked him up for practice several times and dropped him off at home, because much like my parents so many years ago, the concept of shuttling your kids around is not a Latin thing. Practice is over. Everyone goes home, and there he is.... still waiting for his ride. My parents sometimes would come an hour or so after practice was over. There were several nights when my dad completely forgot that I had practice.
I would pick him up, my son in the front seat and my South American friend in the back, courteous and quiet. And, I would smile and ask him about his day and his home and I realized he was so much more integrated and comfortable than I ever was at that stage.
So many gifts, I think to myself. So many gifts that I have received since I felt like the outsider kid on the soccer team from the far away land.
I dreamt of having my dad coach a team... and now I am able to be the coach for my son.
I dreamt of owning the house in the nice neighborhood (as I grew up in the multi family units) and now I get to own and live in the house in the nice neighborhood.
I dreamt of feeling like I belonged.... and now I feel at home in what was once a weird and foreign land.
Having this new player on our team was a wonderful gift this year. It was the opportunity to look back in time and remember so many feelings of being a newly arrived kid in the community.
Unwrap those gifts that we receive daily... that are so impossible to wrap.
Acknowledge how far you've come... and how many dreams you are already living...
Live gratefully...
And have a very Merry Christmas....
Yours in harmony,
Nestor