Christmas Day gratitude.

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Christmas Day gratitude. - 12/25/2007 8:33:06 AM

Greatful

Posts: 31
Joined: 12/21/2007
Status: offline

HI everyone. Im jewish so I dont celebrate Christmas today but I still feel a sense of 'reverance' today for some reason.

Im glad to have found this site and also to have such an amazing and miraculous life! (I say this affirmation often to convince myself it is true and also to negate any thoughts of lack I might have or dissatisfaction I feel etc.)

I really love staying in a grateful state of mind because my normal tendencies in my life is to 'long for what I DONT HAVE'..or think that the 'grass is greener ..somewhere ELSE' other than where I am currently at! lol

Being grateful in THIS MOMENT lets me realize the beauty and awe and miracles in THIS MOMENTit and gets me out of that longing for some 'other moment'.

Thanks for letting me share and MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Post #: 1

RE: Christmas Day gratitude. - 12/25/2007 8:58:45 AM

Thankful one

Posts: 1910
Joined: 12/23/2007
Status: offline

Michelle,
Thanks for such a nice message. Your excitement with life is palpable and contagious. It's great that being Jewish you so freely share with all of us on Christmas. In the spirit of celebrating Judaism on Christmas, I offer the following story from Simple Abundance by Sarah Ban Breathnach.

Martin Buber, the great Jewish philosopher, told a story about a Hassidic tzaddick, or enlightened master, named Rabbi Zusya, who often pondered whether he was living an authentic life. "If they ask me in the next world, 'Why were you not Moses?' I will know the answer. But if they ask me, 'Why were you not Zusya?' I will have nothing to say."

A blessed day of peace to all of you and to all your family, friends and relations.
Thankful one

Post #: 2

RE: Christmas Day gratitude. - 12/25/2007 10:46:17 AM

artemis611

Posts: 387
Joined: 7/20/2007
From: Oklahoma
Status: offline

Welcome, Michelle! I share some of your experience, feeling reverence on a day that has little theological meaning to me personally (I'm a Unitarian). I am learning to celebrate this day as symbolic of the light shining in the darkness, a day of hope, and a reminder of God's love to the world. A sense of gratitude also helps me stay in the moment, and I find that it helps me appreciate the people I spend my day with (my family), despite our differences and usual family holiday conflicts and stresses!

I hope you have a wonderful day, filled with love, hope and gratitude!

Lori

_____________________________

To truly listen is to perfect one's own virtue.

Post #: 3

RE: Christmas Day gratitude. - 12/25/2007 11:06:56 AM

Hildegard

Posts: 2720
Joined: 8/30/2006
From: Chicago
Status: online

Michelle, I, too, welcome you and thank you for sharing with us your thoughts. There is something wonderful in feeling reverence for each other's celebrations and joining in the things that unite us, a hope for peace, for mutual respect and understanding, a desire for making the world better for everyone.
You might smile hearing that our Jewish friend in our Centering Prayer Group gave me a Christmas present, a book, "WHY I AM A CATHOLIC" by Garry Wills because she thinks I will like it!

With every good wish,
Edda

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Peace and joy!

Post #: 4

RE: Christmas Day gratitude. - 12/25/2007 11:29:22 AM

Imenuff

Posts: 822
Joined: 3/23/2007
Status: offline

Michelle, one of my dearest friends in all the world is Jewish. We thoroughly enjoy sharing each other's holidays. Whether it is Chanukah, Kwanzaa, Christmas, or whatever, it is a special time to remember that we can truly care for one another and look out for each other. For those of us who are Christian, there is such stress to look for perfection, the perfect gift, the perfect decorations, the perfect meal, the perfect family get together. And then we have the Christmas story of one who came into this world in the midst of all the messiness of life . (Just knowing the Christmas story says so much about where to look for that spirit of gentle peace).For us Christians, perhaps as we more and more recognize the subtle concept of the Holy One who chose to become Incarnate in the messiness of life, family, government, relationships, etc there will truly be peace on earth and less violence done to ourselves and to others by looking and seeing what is, rather than hoping for perfection of what I want to be.

NAMASTE to all of you!!. May each of us in our relationships be that little pebble that has been dropped into the ocean and whose small little ripples spread to the ends of the earth.

_____________________________

Shalom(May you be at peace in Body, Mind,& Spirit)

I'menuff

Post #: 5

RE: Christmas Day gratitude. - 12/25/2007 11:43:00 AM

Solomon

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Joined: 6/9/2007
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Blessings and goodwill to all, no matter what you believe.

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Things I'm Grateful For - Updated Daily. Now updated to the new Mk II version.

Post #: 6

RE: Christmas Day gratitude. - 12/25/2007 2:12:37 PM

Thankful one

Posts: 1910
Joined: 12/23/2007
Status: offline

I agree with Edda when she says: There is something wonderful in feeling reverence for each other's celebrations.

I agree with Betty when she says: For those of us who are Christian, there is such stress to look for perfection...

and

there will be... less violence done to ourselves and to others by looking and seeing what is, rather than hoping for perfection of what I want to be.

In that spirit, I offer the following quote.

Bless a thing and it will bless you. Curse it and it will curse you….If you bless a situation, it has no power to hurt you, and even if it is troublesome for a time, it will gradually fade out, if you sincerely bless it. –Emmet Fox, from Simple Abundance

Thankful one

Post #: 7

RE: Christmas Day gratitude. - 12/25/2007 6:32:58 PM

buttington

Posts: 2244
Joined: 6/9/2007
From: UK
Status: offline

In a similar vein, I was pleased to watch an interesting documentary tonight about reports of Jesus in other ancient religious scripture, (Hindu, Islam, Jewish and Buddhist)

I know all the major world religions come from the same root, but it's always interesting when someone delves into it and comes up with more proof.

The programme told about similarities in the births, lives and teachings of each founder, (and even an uncannily similar life story of the Greek God Mithras, so which came first?)

But what interested me most was the almost identical teachings of all of them. What a pity we have been wasting so much time fighting each other in the name of our religions when we are all brothers and sisters anyway. What does a name matter? It's the teachings they brought us which matter, not whether or not ours is "the one."

"Love one another" seems to have been at the core of them all.

Jude

_____________________________

Love is the only way

Post #: 8