25 Thoughts on “A Christmas Carol” – December 13th

Happy Christmas Dear Reader

‘ 'I wish,' Scrooge muttered, putting his hand in his pocket, and looking about him, after drying his eyes with his cuff: 'but it's too late now.'

'What is the matter?' asked the Spirit.

'Nothing,' said Scrooge. 'Nothing. There was a boy singing a Christmas Carol at my door last night. I should like to have given him something: that's all.'’

So often we see the pain of regret in moments lost when we could have been kind or generous but were not. It is important that we differentiate between guilt and regret. What is in our hands is ours to do with as we wish but then again it is not. Everything under our care is given to us to use for the greater good. To hoard or hold that which we are given, when giving it again would support that good is what causes regret in us.

How often have we passed a stranded motorist and wished we had stopped? How many times do we wait a moment too long in showing a simple kindness and the moment escapes us? We are the keepers of the kingdom, but the kingdom is not ours to keep. It is, rather, ours to give away. We hold onto things because we fear some kind of want or loss or because we are just greedy. Holding onto that which is not ours means that we have lost the opportunity to be proper stewards of what we are given.

With every encounter that we enter expecting the opportunity to give, there is no missed opportunity to give. If, however, we go about closed and solitary as our Mister Scrooge then we will seek or see little chance to give anything. So we find ourselves looking backward at the time past and wishing that we had done something, anything to impose generosity upon another.

Changing a hungry world into a satisfied one begins with looking for a single mouth to feed. Education of the world begins with grasping simple opportunities to teach an individual. We simply need to embrace the needs set before us. We only need to address the kindnesses we have opportunity to give. The boy singing at the keyhole is a chance to change the world. Seize it with such ferocity that it begins a quake of change.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn
Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a home owner. He brings new and old things out of his treasure store."