I’m contemplating my day ahead as the Main Conductor of the holiday festivities; the one in charge of the food, the wrapper of presents, the games, the Christmas movies and then I reminded myself about my new attitude; keep it simple, happiness and joy first! This attitude I adopted just this past Thanksgiving and it worked splendidly! On that holiday I didn’t even decide what to make/cook until I felt like it and then only started the cooking when I felt like it – no schedule, no fuss, and no muss.
For Christmas (tomorrow) I have husband and son flying in from Maine and one son flying in from Montreal (tonight) so there will be a flurry of activity around their homecomings. Excitement, excitement!
This is where I am at the moment; all these thoughts. Yet again it’s the simple things that catch my attention. Perhaps that’s the whole point of life I also remind myself. It’s not the complexity of the celebrations or the money spent on them. It’s the intent. It’s the action and the love.
My daughters’ young cat climbed into my lap as I sat down to look at my table full of notes to myself, left over school papers and puzzles pieces (Christmas puzzle). She immediately flopped over into my arms in a particular way that expressed the way in which she was raised. I’m not speaking of how I raised her. I’m speaking of her very earliest life before she came to us.
Ginny was raised by a woman who rescued animals. When I went to pick out a barn cat for my brother at this woman’s home, she opened the garage door and out poured perhaps 30 cats of all sizes and ages. It was an amazing sight when I think about it. All cats of all sizes and ages got along remarkably. There was no disorderliness. And there were tons of them free ranging, so to speak!
Well, there was Ginny right at my feet amongst them all. She was a tiny 2 month old kitten that for some reason I immediately bent down and picked up. Now mind you I was not planning to bring home a kitten! I already had 3! She was beautiful; long haired and a tortoise shelled calico. Well! Did I mention that my daughter loves calicos?
The woman that rescued her said she absolutely could not be a barn cat at my brothers’ mini-farm. This kitten was her special love. So… since she couldn’t live with my brother I knew she must come home to us.
And this is my point; the time that the rescuer took with this kitten shows to this day. She is the most loving cat I’ve ever met. Ginny climbs into your arms and wraps her paws around your neck or shoulders and loves you back as if she was a child. For this is how she was raised from her earliest days; with great tenderness and love.
So my simple thought today is about how our actions, simple as they may be, have very great consequences to the world at large. If one kitten raised with such tenderness and love still expresses the gift she was given… how much can our actions potentially change the world?
One of B.J. Palmer’s most famous quotes is this;
“You never know how far reaching something you may think, say or do today, will affect the lives of millions tomorrow.”
Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah and Happy Kwanza to all!
