During this holiday season I send my heartfelt gratitude and thanks to all of you for your continued support in my mission to help golfers achieve joy, peace and awarenesses in their lives and in their golf games. In this spirit is the following interpretation of gift giving by Sarah Breathnach.
“Christmas is about gifts.
The real role of gifts in the Christmas story is different than the gifts found at the malls or in mail-order catalogs. The gifts in the Christmas story were wrapped in miracles.
The first gift was of Spirit: unconditional Love.
The next gift came from a Jewish teenager named Miriam, who was known to her family and friends as Mary. Her Christmas present was selflessness, the complete surrender of ego and will needed to bring Heaven down to earth.
The gifts of her fiancé, Joseph, were trust and faith. He trusted that Mary wasn’t pregnant with another man’s child; he believed there really was a Divine Plan to get them through this mess.
The Child brought forgiveness. Wholeness. Second chances.
The angels’ gifts were tidings of comfort, joy and peace, the reassurance that there was nothing to fear, so rejoice.
The Sheppard boy’s gift was generosity; his favorite lamb for the baby’s birthday present.
The innkeeper’s wife’s gifts were compassion and charity; a warm, dry, safe place for the homeless family to stay, her best coverlet to wrap the new mother and little one, a meal for Joseph, the donkey’s fresh hay.
The three kings arrived in Bethlehem expecting to find a newborn prince in a palace, and instead found him in a cow stall. The shocked Wise Men unwrapped golf, frankincense, and myrrh, but their Real gifts were wonder, acceptance, and courage. They offered wonder by surrendering logic, reason, and common sense. Accepting the impossible, they suspended skepticism long enough to double-cross the insane King Herod, frantically searching for the child who would change the world. With courage—at the risk of their own lives—the Wise Men helped the young family escape to a safe haven in Egypt.
Christmas is all about gifts. Nothing but gifts. Gifts tied with heartstrings. Gifts that surprise and delight. Gifts that transform the mundane into the miraculous. Gifts that nurture the souls of both the giver and the given. Perfect giftsl Authentic gifts. The gifts of Spirit, a frightened teen-age girl, her bewildered sweetheart, the Child, the angels, the shepherd boy, the inn-keeper’s wife. The gifts of the Magi.
Unconditional Love. Selflessness. Trust, Faith. Forgiveness. Wholeness. Second Chances. Comfort. Joy. Peace. Reassurance. Rejoicing., Generosity. Compassion. Charity. Wonder. Acceptance. Courage.
To give such gifts. To truly open our hearts to receive such gifts gratefully.”
From: “Simple Abundance, A Daybook of Comfort and Joy”, Sarah Ban Breathnach
Let the brightness of the holiday season shine in your life
bringing you peace, harmony and love for yourself and all that you do.
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