Holiday Moments~~

Thanksgiving and Christmas~~ these two holidays have been put on a Super Track Race~~Decorations for Christmas start showing up in stores before mid-September.  This act gives a small "Shelf Life" for anything that looks like Fall or Thanksgiving.  Items are marked at 50% off~~to grab our attention, thinking we are getting a great bargain- people seem to have a look of shock~ trying to mentally grab their Christmas list for early shopping!

PLEASE~~~~~give these two holidays some breathing room!  It is a known fact-holidays have a way of bringing out the Worst and Best in People.  Everyone is struggling to be on their best behavior-but many carry deep emotional pain inside~~ sooner or later, a button is pushed and emotions are pouring from people.  

I have always carried great respect for the "Thanksgiving Painting" by Norman Rockwell~~it shines with joy, love, anticipation as the beautiful cooked Turkey is being brought forward-all waiting to join hands in prayer, thanking God for His blessings.  How wonderful it would be if more family gatherings held a portion of the shining Joy portrayed in Mr. Rockwell's painting~~now in this fast paced world-although we don't say it~~my heart tells me there are many families who hope and pray they can just get through the meal, send everyone home~~before verbal words begin to fly and anger erupts.

I had a chance to see some Holiday side-effects in a trip to the grocery store today~~ as I watched the mad dash traffic of carts rapidly pushing down the main isle~~a brief thought hit that I could become a Traffic Officer-"Stop, Now Forward, Hold, Go Sideways, Wrong Turn!"  As I watched this mad rush-Mr. Rockwell's painting surfaced~~telling me "This was Not the Way He saw any Holiday"  no eager smiles, bright eyed looks of excitement-nothing but frustration, anger, tension~~as if everyone wanted to forget about Thanksgiving.

Suddenly a lady asked if I needed help~~she had a store Badge on-letting me feel she was the real deal, and after telling her what I was searching for~~within seconds she had walked with me to the area I needed to be at.  I got the feeling she was not your "average employee" as I inquired about what her job title might be.  Another shock~~~she explained her job was in the Upper Management and all store Employees from the Top Leader to the Bottom Employee was asked to volunteer at a store on this huge shopping day-being there to help people find items they needed~~hopefully making their shopping experience easier.

I was stunned~~~but could see the Joy on her face-she was having a wonderful time helping people and knew if given the chance, she would do this again~~no questions asked, no pay needed.

My heart opened as I told her "You just added true Joy to my Holiday~~Thank you!"

Maybe on this Thanksgiving, we could all give PEACE a try.  God bless.

martha