Thinking about Christmas

I was thinking the other day how this is shaping up to be a good Christmas. I'm sure I'll feel the loss of loved ones at some point in the celebrating; it seems to sneak up on me at these family-oriented times. Aside from the finding-Mr.-Right-for-me thing, I'm pleased with my life.

Along the lines of appreciating what I have, I ran across this post from the blog of the radio show On Being, with Krista Tippett. She's got it going on, and explores topics that for whatever reason really resonate with me. In general, she interviews people who are religious without saying they are, you know? People who are living their values, and people who are thinkers about that kind of thing.

So, the link is about something called a devotional exercise this last week before Christmas. It has WONDERFUL poems, which really resonated with me, like this one by Derek Walcott:

“Love after Love”
by Derek Walcott

The time will come
when, with elation,
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror,
and each will smile at the other’s welcome,

and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you

all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,

the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.

There's a little exercise for each day this week. I think it's worth reading the poems if nothing else.