Creating Change at Christmas
There had not even been one drop of snow. I suppose the correct wording would be ‘flakes of snow’. Not even the tiniest dust mote of snow! But the sky. It was as blue as any winter sky could get - on the west coast. All around me, what should have been white, softly sculpted mounds of glittering cold white frosting was soggy, wet, damp and muddy.
In reality, there was lots of green space and it really was quite beautiful. Fall colours decorated the trees, sidewalks and streets in reds, golds and yellows. All of those golden rusty leaves had yet to be picked up by the city crew and their leaf blowers, compacters and shredders - all noisy and loud.
Looking back over her own words, Francine could see with disappointment that she was unhappy with her lot. Well, she had been unhappy with her lot for most of her life. She could quickly paint a very real feeling smile on her face, but when left to her own devices for very long, her face once more became drawn and sad.
How to effect a change where no change could be seen? She had been told so very, many times to change her attitude. Stop whining. How would that change how her heart felt?
There was to be one more Christmas with one more litany of woes expressed by all and sundry about hating the season. Hating the season! As a child it had been all excitement. Getting out decorations, hearing the stories - family stories and church stories. Baking. All so wonderful. And the snow, the skating rink. Ah, skating: another thing she missed! Would there be any possibility that she could return to her home town and relive all of the Christmas’s past?
Not likely. But despite the gray and rainy skies of her new home, she could decorate her own home even with the tiniest of Christmas trees. Christmas baking in her brand new stove could infuse her home with sweet aromas of this past that she missed so much. If her family could not be with her, she could invite friends for a bit of Christmas cheer. She missed the choir ~ there were choral events and galas to attend.
And maybe, just maybe....... remodeling childhood lessons with a different attitude would release the tight bands around her heart and she would hear her lost angels sing once more.
“You can clutch the past so tightly to your chest that
it leaves your arms too full to embrace the present.”
~ Jan Glidewel
No comments:
Post a Comment