soyperson

So, guys.

You know, as I drove through my city, my town, my home, on the way to a 10:30 candlelight service at my church, I found myself noticing things I had never taken the time to look around and really see.

All the lights were of, from the post office to the tire place to the (multiple) taphouses. The only bits of luminance I saw were strings on trees, and lampposts, and little twinkle lights someone had put up on the awning of Chef's Pizza ("Home of the Big Chef!"). 

No one walked the rain-drenched sidewalks, no annoyingly loud pickup trucks revved their way past the library. The locally-infamous locally-owned drive-thru fast-food chain had its big red lettering lights turned off for the night, and everything seemed asleep. Not at peace, per se, but definitely asleep.

No "silent night", but pretty damnation quiet, if you ask me. 

It's amazing to me, to think that such a long time away, two-thousand-something years away, regardless of your religious convictions, a baby was born. It didn't matter at that moment what deity you worshipped and why. It didn't matter if that child would grow to be a historical figure, a prophet, or the Godsent Messiah. It just mattered that he was alive. Breathing. Born. 

Now, whether he was born to a holy virgin and a lowly carpenter or a poor Nazarene girl and a woodcarving liar is up for debate, but what isn't is that that baby, that infant, that tiny bundle of joy, of love, of life, changed the world. To some, he would grow up to die for our sins. To some, he foretold even greater things. But to all, he taught people that love is what matters.

I could go on and on. I could spout out the whole schtick about being "slow to anger and quick to forgive", but that's not my style.

Just... try to love, okay?

That's all. Try to love. Everyone.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Yule, Sol Invictus, or whatever you observe.

And hey, you know what the best gift is?

You are alive.

Savor that. Relish in it. You are alive.

Say it aloud. "I am alive." Breathe in, and out again. 

You are alive.

I love you. Good night.