...then beggars would ride. An old English proverb. It means it is useless to wish unless one applies an action in order to actually accomplish anything. Here's to applying action to our wishes this year!
My children lovingly ask me everyday what I want for Christmas. So here is my list. I've only actually told them about wishes 1 and 3.
My Christmas wish list:
1. I wish for one day that all three of my children would love each other. No fighting. Let's make it bigger! I wish children everywhere would spend one day sharing and joyously living in righteous brotherly kindness all the loving day! One. day.
2. I wish for calorie-free Christmas cookies and the resurgence of reality in the marketing of women's apparel.
3. I wish for my children to know the true meaning and the reality of Christ's birth. That it was quite humble without glowing white robes and snow globe perfection. That he came as a bloody normal baby delivered in a very dirty place with no scalpel to cut the cord with a herd of confused animals all staring at a young frightened teenage girl. Somehow, God in flesh has been sanitized to make us comfortable. Somehow, we still want to make Jesus an earthly king with royal robes. Americans tend to sanitize the lowly Jesus who uses a rock for a pillow in order to make us comfortable with our own abundant riches and down comforters.
4. I wish for the Lord's church to stop name calling and squabbling. I wish half would stop condemning, and I wish the other half would stop condescending. I wish I didn't have labels for my Christian friends. I wish they did not have labels for me. I wish we would open our eyes and see that good people are watching our fights while thinking Why the heck do I want to buy into that? There's more unity at a Metallica concert! I wish we could recognize the power in grace and love and unity. I wish we would all just stop fighting for one day. One. Day.
5. I wish I could see all of my loved ones. I wish I could hug them all in one day. I wish distance was not an issue. Someday, I am counting on this one coming true.
6. I wish sin was no more. I wish pain was history. I wish death was a myth. Someday, this one will come true.
7. I wish we could all see each other as people. I wish for racism to truly be non-existent. I wish sexism was truly a thing of the past. I wish a man could hold open a door for a woman without being accosted, and I wish a woman could be CEO without being labeled a bad mom. I wish red and yellow and black and white neighbors could move in next door and no one would have a panic attack. I wish we all could take pride in our ethnicity or gender without someone getting upset about it.
8. I wish pug dogs were plentiful and that every one loved them as much as I do.
9. I wish that my eyes were consistently open to my own selfish mistakes. I wish I would never hurt another person again with my words or my own inadequacy.
10. I wish we all had built in radars to detect the hurting. I wish that everyone truly felt the warm and fuzzy Christmas spirit that comes after watching cheesy Christmas movies. I wish Christmas was truly a time of peace for everyone. I wish bad memories didn't abound, and I wish bad relationships didn't destroy holidays. I wish for true peace at a time that the world crams artificial peace/love/joy/happiness down our throats with tinsel and overpriced cards. I wish joy could be felt by those who lost a loved one. I wish peace could be felt by those in the middle of a war zone. I wish happiness could be felt by those who are alone.
