Looking Back, Looking Ahead
During the holiday season, it has been my tradition to send an on-line card to those who I hold dear. I tend to be a bit picky about what I send as I believe that it should honestly represent how I feel. It was the third day after the solstice…
I had waited until the last possible moment to sit down at my computer to sort through the on-line cards and hopefully find just the right one. I watched a few, came upon one that brought tears to my eyes, and watched a few more. I wrestled a bit with myself about sending the one that had brought tears. It was so different from what I usually send and yet, it so beautifully illustrated how I feel…
As the music begins to play, we see a winter scene with stars and a full moon in the night sky. A white dog with splashes of brown on his face and body strolls up to a clearing that is framed by snow covered spruce trees. Wearing a red and black scarf around his neck, he gazes at the scene below with a rather wistful look in his eyes.
The camera pulls back, and we see a white and ginger cat wearing a red collar saunter into the clearing to claim his space beside the dog. The dog turns to look at the cat. With narrowed eyes the cat returns the look. They take each other in for a few moments and just as they both return their gaze to the scene below, we hear the ding of a chime and see the expression on the cat’s face transform.
As the snow begins to fall, the dog gently places his paw on the cat’s back. The camera pulls away, we see the town below, and the message appears… Peace on earth and joy in your world at the holidays and always.
Without a word spoken, this card conveyed so much of what I have struggled with and reflected on in the past year that I felt compelled to share it with an expression of my own heart:
As we draw closer to the end of 2020, we have experienced...
times of separation and closeness,
times of divisiveness and harmony,
times of pulling in and speaking out,
times of staying steadfast in our beliefs, and
times of learning and growing.
... as we come back into the light of the season, my wish is that we may all pause for a moment to truly see each other with gentle eyes of love, compassion and understanding.
