Holiday

noun
1. a day fixed by law or custom on which ordinary business is suspended in commemoration of some event or in honor of some person.
2. any day of exemption from work (distinguished from work day ).
3. a time or period of exemption from any requirement, duty, assessment, etc.: New businesses may be granted a

What is that …. Just a time to get off work? Time to decorate and make your house one that the Griswold’s would envy? We must keep up, at least in the competition with the neighbors, right?

But if, there were no ornaments or lights or even extra food, what would you do with the time? I am certain you have at LEAST ten people in your immediate memory that you could say, “I would like to go do this or that with if, I had extra time”? Would you go in to work and finish some work on some files, or would you take a long slow drive across the state? Would you call your grandchildren and ask to pick them up for a movie? Would you find a chance to visit the homeless shelter, or just deliver food to five random needing people? Would you go outdoors and hike, or plant something?

What “the Holidays” means now and what they used to is night and day different, no matter who’s shoes you fill, yet we still, all, have twenty- four hours in our days. Twenty-four to save someone, to help, or give someone more of our own time. Twenty-four to be bitter, to hate, and to take as much as we can from our relationships.

Take a holiday.

It might be a morning or a full day, to stop and do a self-evaluation. Take note of what is working for you in your life, and what is not. What do you have the power to change and what do you not? If, then, you have the power to change something in your life, what would that be? What three steps could you change this item to be better? It might be a relationship, or something physical in your life. How can you change it? It is the baby steps of changing your diet, or how you spend your time, before it’s too late and you do not have the chance. Many people have told me, “I want to be organized”, “I used to be organized. I just don’t know what happened” Time and priorities changed, and what was is not anymore, but you have the choice to do something different than what “Was”.

A quick story, of a man who’d waited thirty years to have a moment that he always wanted of his life. To be in his own house and say a blessing over the meal with his family, at Thanksgiving. He had waited, because prior to this, he was at his son’s house or in-laws or working, but he treasured this foreseen moment…. wanted it and thought how special it would be. This year he had the time. His son, his uncle, his mother, his wife, and his Grandson was within arm’s length, in a house called his. He said a short prayer, full of emotion, only thankful, almost speechless, in gratitude. It was his holiday, the one he looked so forward to and had impressive expectations for, and finally, he got what he wanted. Maybe one or two others realized the importance of this to him, but it was significant. What is it in your own life that is significant? Maybe you will never tell someone, but it would mean so very much to you? What steps do you take to accomplish that? If it is significant, and keeps coming up in your mind, then it is something you should address and make happen.

Take a holiday,

but make it count. Take a break from the routine, and learn something genuine about yourself, and then follow through. Do the thing that needs to be done or say what needs to be said, so that every other holiday from here forward is meaningful and worth your time, not just only an obligation.

To help yourself, help others, whatever good you do travels a circle and returns to you many times over, but remember life isn’t about what you get, it is about what you become, now and the legacy you leave behind.” —D.G.

Happy holiday’s,
——Lori