Allow yourself to be in a comfortable position,
Knowing accepting yourself just as you are is the most wholly inspiring thing you can do.
To be in balance,
To be in this present moment,
To be with your breath,
Your body.
This day,
Whether it's a similar one to the day before or something totally brand new that's never been before,
Here you are in this moment.
And as we move in through depths and bounties of appreciation,
We move even deeper into this present,
Receiving the gifts that it has in mind for us.
There's a famous quote at the end of Charles Dickens' Christmas Carol after Scrooge has been visited by the spirit of the past and the present and of what is yet to come.
He declares,
I will honor Christmas in my heart and try to keep it all the year.
I will live in the past,
The present,
And the future.
The spirits of all three shall strive within me.
I will not shut out the lessons that they teach.
What are the lessons that the past,
The present,
And the future have to teach you this Christmas?
Let's take a moment to welcome the spirit of the past,
To invite it to provide any images that it would have us know about what once was.
What do you see?
Who are you with?
How old are you?
What about the spirit of Christmas,
The blessing of life,
The miracle of being might be present in this visitation from the spirit of the past?
Perhaps the lesson that the past teaches us is that although what once was is no longer,
Its essence still remains.
Perhaps there's something eternal about a really good memory.
Perhaps there's something eternal about the bonds we share with people who may no longer be with us.
Perhaps the lesson of the past is that there's something that you can do this day,
This Christmas day,
To honor your ancestors,
To perform a ritual that invokes the spirit of the primordial past,
Something that honors the child that you were,
The social self that you are today,
And also that part of you that is one with the eternal spirit.
Just continuing to breathe,
To hold yourself to this present to receive the gifts that it has for you.
I invite you as well to allow yourself to be visited by the spirit of the present.
Oh,
We might think we're always present,
But I might argue that sometimes the present is the thing we fight against the most.
We defend against the present moment that would call us into a greater way of being and joy,
A greater level of happiness,
A greater embracing of the miracle of this life.
But no,
Sometimes I don't have enough money.
I'm ugly.
I'm in conflict with this person.
The world's going to shit.
All these thoughts are but defense mechanisms against the miracle of now that which is represented by the Christmas spirit.
In Dickens' Christmas Carol,
The ghost of Christmas present sprinkles incense and water from a torch on people who are quarreling.
And it reminds them that it's Christmas Day to let go of judgments and criticisms and just be in joy for a while.
Could that be the lesson the present has for you today?
That it's okay to live in joy?
That you have a right to be happy?
And that when you embrace this miracle of life and practice it,
It unleashes an immense creativity in your life.
Continuing to breathe to receive the gift of the present moment,
May we also invite in the spirit of what is yet to come.
Not the spirit of the future,
For it is still unwritten.
But the spirit of what is yet to come tells us what will be if we continue on the way that we have been.
Perhaps the scene for you is something powerful or wonderful.
For Ebenezer Scrooge,
It was seeing his funeral without anyone there.
It was seeing the death of a young,
Crippled boy who he could have helped but didn't.
Whether what you see is wonderful or perhaps even terrible,
Let the spirit of the future teach you what you are called to become now to create a greater tomorrow.
Once again,
Scrooge says,
I will honor Christmas in my heart and try to keep it all the year.
I will live in the past,
The present,
And the future.
The spirits of all three shall strive within me.
I will not shut out the lessons that they teach.
Will you shut out the lessons that the past,
The present,
And the future teach?
Or will you receive and embody them today?
As we practice them,
We achieve a kind of wholeness that allows us not only to embody the spirit of Christmas,
The spirit of that wholeness on Christmas Day,
But in the days,
The months,
And the years ahead.
