Life has been pretty chaotic here these past couple of weeks, and I truly haven’t taken the time to even formulate coherent thought, much less try to write them down. Last minute errands, helping the kids study for mid-terms, influenza, baking for Christmas–these are the things that have filled up my life. The only “writing” I have done is to help my 17-year-old edit his essays for college entrance applications. What an incredibly difficult process that is! But his words have humbled and honored me beyond description.
You see, my third-born son wants to be a doctor. Not just any doctor. He wants to be a missionary surgeon. Most of his essays center around why he wants to be what he wants to be–and his answer, quite honestly, brought me to my knees. He wants to heal the world because he watched me battle cancer. But more importantly, he wants to heal the world because of those that rallied around us and loved us through the storm. The love that filled our home during those traumatic months, filled my son’s heart with a desire to spread healing love to parts unknown.
The little things that we do in this world truly have a rippling effect and extend way beyond the origin of the stone hitting the pool of water. The tiny little ripple of a smile shared, a hand held, a meal cooked, a bathroom cleaned, an errand run–will hopefully be spreading into another continent in the coming years, in the form of one young man venturing out to heal the nations beyond his home. To those who shared those moments of love and compassion with us, I thank you. I thank you for sharing God’s love selflessly, for spreading His hope into our hearts and our homes and for opening up a vast world of opportunity to one young boy. Opportunity to spread that love throughout the world–a world dark and hungry for hope. Because of your selflessness, love will be possible in places it was never possible before.
For those of you who have never felt as if your small acts of kindness are worth the effort–think again! Each and every small act of compassion filled a hungry heart with hope and desire to do good. Your small act, building upon other small acts, can fill the world with hope. Never doubt that–I have seen it in action in my own home.
So today, as I once again bury myself in my Christmas hibernation mode, I leave you with this thought. Christmas is not once a year. The hope and love that is Christmas can and does happen in little ways each and every day, and it is our job to share this love, this hope, this wonder with others around us. It’s often not the big, splashy productions that make the profound difference–it’s tiny acts of genuine love. May you fill your new year with opportunities to spread this love with others around you, and may the ripples of your tiny acts of genuine compassion fill a darkened world with renewed Hope. May your rippling acts of kindness be as the bells of Christmas, forever ringing out in love.
I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)
I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
and mild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
Till ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime,
A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound
The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn
The households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
And in despair I bowed my head;
“There is no peace on earth,” I said;
“For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men.”
life in between... 