It’s Christmas Eve. No matter how it actually unfolds, I am always mindful of a darkened sky, stars blinking through the crisp, cold air; ever-decreasing activity on the road as people reach their destination and settle in for the long-anticipated time with family and loved ones; snow falling softy and quietly, adding to the sparkling cloak that Gaia has wrapped herself in; streets lined with house after house, dressed up for the occasion in brightly colored lights on rooftops, swirling around trees and shrubs, doors welcoming guests with wreaths of pine boughs, red bows and twinkling lights.
This will be my 57th Christmas Eve. The first few have left no memory. For so many others, I can run the movie inside my head and see grandparents long gone; a house full of people talking and laughing; decorated trees nesting in a sea of regally wrapped boxes of magic and surprises. Smells of warming pies mingling with the sound of glasses tinkling as eggnog is poured from the punch bowl into the small handled bowl, topped with whipped cream and nutmeg; Christmas carols playing in the background. And yet, through all those years, there is one memory that never leaves me.
The story is told of Christmas Eve, 1914, and the spontaneous truce that occurred between the German and Allied Troops along the front lines. I know that I was very young when I first heard of this…perhaps 7 or 8 years old. Without the language to describe it, it amazed me that human beings were so instinctively and essentially drawn to love each other. It also profoundly awakened me to the degree to which external drivers – those things outside of us called authority, experts, leaders, guides, etc. – were able to reshape that essential being and the degree to which we allowed it to be so.
Every year at this time, I am reminded of this moment of my own awakening. Each year, I remember and recommit to my own journey of staying awake and awakening those who have the desire to do so. At this time of year, I am reminded why I have become who I am; and the degree to which each of us is so essentially and organically intended to connect and engage with each other.
Mine is not to change the world. Mine is to create the world that I desire. And what I desire is full expression of what I know to be our birthright – our right to love and be loved; our desire to engage with each other in ways that awaken and expand our potential; and our deep and organic pull to move toward each other and not away from each other.
Long gone are those men who first dared to follow their natural instincts and proclaim a truce. Under the most dire conditions and within the context of vicious intentions, they found within themselves what was required to remember who they are and to trust that – no matter what!
Perhaps this Christmas Eve, 2007, will be the one that re-awakens us to the truth of who we are.
Breathing is good……
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