Welcome yourself into holiday spirit.
Giving yourself the gift right now to get into a comfortable position.
To come fully present to the gift of this right now moment.
Invite yourself into the holiday spirit.
The spirit that holds for you reflection,
Remembrance,
Open heartedness,
And a deep profound knowing of the sacred in life.
The gift of life is always present to receive,
But too often we keep ourselves from it.
We reject it by rejecting ourselves.
We deny it by denying our own worth.
This Christmas,
It's time to welcome ourselves back into the gift of life.
Do you have a favorite holiday television episode or special?
A Charlie Brown Christmas,
Where they pick out the ugly tree but it turns out to be the best one.
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer with the Island of Misfit Toys.
King Moonraiser who says a toy is never truly happy until it is loved by a child.
My favorite is a Christmas episode of the Andy Griffith Show.
There's this crotchety old man,
Ben Weaver,
Who turns in a father on Christmas Eve for moonshining.
Andy wants to send him home for Christmas but the man insists,
No,
He's broken the law.
So Andy decides to call Aunt B and the man's family and they just decide to do Christmas at the jail.
Weaver sees this and he's so angry,
But something deeper is going on.
He sees the joy,
The connection,
And he realizes that's what he wants too.
But he's too prideful to admit it,
So he keeps trying to get himself arrested and Andy refuses to do it.
So this old man is standing outside on top of a milk carton,
Peering through the window,
Like you and me perhaps sometimes,
On the outside looking in at our lives instead of living them in the fullness.
The old man stumbles and Andy finds him outside and he realizes what's going on and they invite Ben Weaver in.
And don't you see we do this too.
We don't know how to say love me or celebrate with me or I want to connect with you.
We try to get ourselves arrested in our own way,
Get ourselves into little bits of trouble.
And the truth is,
We are invited.
When it comes to God's blessings,
We're all welcome.
You're welcome.
The good of life,
You're welcome.
The love of others,
You're welcome.
The joy of laughter,
You're welcome.
I have a friend named Paul Woods who told me about a dream he had.
He's in a large room and there's a large table and it's filled with the bounty of food.
And at this table are all the great spiritual teachers,
Jesus,
Buddha,
Gandhi,
King,
Gumby,
Eeyore,
Dumbledore.
It's your meditation.
Pick whoever you'd like.
But in his dream there's a seat open at the table and my friend Paul,
He can't believe it.
It's for him.
But he pauses,
Who am I to sit at this table with all of these great masters?
One of the masters looks at him and says,
Yes,
The seat is for you.
We make room for everybody.
We make room for everybody.
Can you in this moment take a seat at that table of wisdom?
Invite yourself in with all of the masters and all the deep knowings that life has to offer.
There is room for you at the table.
Who else can you make room for?
Ask yourself,
Who can I make room in my heart for this Christmas?
Including yourself.
That's the key.
You can give yourself to the greatest gift there is by letting go of unforgiveness and giving your heart back to this very moment where the Spirit welcomes you.
