Dear Spiritual Family,
As we approach this holiday season of Thanksgiving and Christmas and other traditions important to us, it is understandable that for most, there may be some trepidation. How do we “manage” family, travel, cooking and cleaning? What about gifts? There is a “big one” for many, if not most, of us. How much do I spend? What do I buy for this one and that one? How do we handle Uncle ____ at the dinner table? You know how he can be at times!
One of my mentors, Dr. Stephen Covey in his classic, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, offers what I, another Stephen, want to focus on in this piece for today. He calls it Habit Number 2 – Begin with the End in Mind.
If we marry this habit with our spiritual understanding of Charles Fillmore’s “Power of Imagination,” we can save ourselves a lot of hand-wringing and frustration in the coming weeks.
So, imagine it is New Year’s Day, 2025. You have successfully navigated the Season! You feel a sense of authentic accomplishment. In essence, you feel nourished and blessed because you allowed yourself to be fully present to what has transpired, especially to the people you engaged with over these last six weeks.
In your Christ-centered heart, you envisioned a deeply grateful time of Thanksgiving, remembering the family and friends that had crossed your path over this past year – their smiles and their hugs, their encouraging words, their other acts of kindness, their compassion and love. And you paused, often to feel appreciation for you, and how you opened your heart to others, even to strangers, with a kind word or a gentle touch.
You gave yourself the Gifts of Advent – Hope and Faith, Peace and Love, and Joy throughout the month of December. You felt the innocence and power of Jesus’ birth, the all-encompassing Love of Mother Mary for her son, for you and me, and the Holy Gifts he would gladly offer to a waiting world.
You treasured a richer connection with God, the Divine, the Holy Spirit. You felt the indwelling Christ springing forth in and through you. You realized on this New Year’s Day, 2025 that you are now prepared to experience the new year from a higher, more centered consciousness.
Thank you, Holy Child of God, for your willingness to have such a Season as this!
We love you so much,
Rev. Stephen and Mary