Second Thoughts ~ Christmas Joys ~ Nursing Homes

Happy Christmas Dear Reader,

“Call a nursing home and get the names of five people who don’t often receive mal.  Send each one a beautiful Christmas card.  Sign it, ‘from Santa’.”

One of the great joys of Christmas are the things we do for others that we never know the outcome.  It is a self-imposed selflessness.  It is in this giving with no hope of return that we find the greatest joy.

The benefit to us is that we get to put good things out into the world and know that the deed itself is the reward.  This is a great way to build our awareness of the needs of others.  I also find raw kindness without hope of recompense rather addicting.

Perhaps being selfish at being selfless yields the recompense we need from deeds done without hope of recompense.  In the acts of love and kindness that spread the joy of Christmas the brightest ones are the ones done in secret.  They double as gifts to the Father in gratitude for his gift of a Son.  And as Ian Anderson puts it so well, “It’s only the giving that makes you what you are.”

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)