MOST PRECIOUS GIFT

The most precious gift we can offer others is our presence.  When mindfulness embraces those we love, they will bloom like flowers.

Quote by Thich Nhat Hanh

REFLECTION:

  • During this holiday frenzy ..often feeling the need to buy gifts… the perfect gift, yet our presence is the most precious gift we can offer another.
  • How can you be more present for someone this holiday season?
  • How can you love someone and help them bloom this season?

MUCH MAGNIFICENCE

‘And so it is that most people have no idea how beautiful the world is and how much magnificence is revealed in the tiniest things, in some flower, in a stone, in tree bark, or in a birch leaf.  The grown ups, going about their business and worries, and tormenting themselves with all kinds of details, gradually lose the perspective for these riches that children, when they are attentive and good, soon notice and love with their whole heart.  And yet the greatest beauty would be achieved if everyone remained in this regard always like attentive and good children, simple and pious in sensitivities, and if people did not lose the capacity for taking pleasure as intensely in a birch leaf or a peacock’s feather or the wing of a hooded crow as in a mighty mountain or a splendid palace.  What is small is not small in itself, just as that which is great is not – great.  A great and eternal beauty passes through the whole world, and it is distributed fairly over that which is small and that which is large; for in such important and essential matters, no injustice is to be found on earth.’

Quote by Rainer Maria Rilke, letter to Helmut Westhoff, Nov. 12, 1901 in: Briefe, p. 31 (R. Sieber-Rilke ed. 1950) (transl. S.H.)

REFLECTION:

  • Can you pause… reclaim perspective… notice the beauty in nature… the magnificence of the tiniest things – the poinsettia plant, a bird, a barren tree…
  • Take some time this holiday season to take pleasure in small, simple beauty surrounding you.
  • Happy Holidays – my best to you!

WHAT WE OWE…

In normal life we hardly realize how much more we receive than we give, and life cannot be rich without such gratitude.  It is so easy to overestimate the importance of our own achievements compared with what we owe to the help of others. 

Quote by Dietrich Bonhoeffer from his book: LETTERS AND PAPERS FROM PRISON

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, (1906-1945), was a  German Protestant theologian important for his support of ecumenism and his view of Christianity’s role in a secular world.  His involvement in a plot to overthrow Adolf Hitler led to his imprisonment and execution. His Letters and Papers from Prison, published posthumously in 1951, is perhaps the most profound document of his convictions. Source: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Dietrich-Bonhoeffer

REFLECTION:

  • Upon reflection, have you received more than you have given?
  • Who do you owe a debt of gratitude for their help?
  • Call, text, email, write a handwritten note… take some action to show gratitude to a person who helped you become who you are today.