Do you remember the Christmas’s when, no matter what was on your wish list, any gift or kindness was always enough. To turn your hand in the kitchen when the dinner was being cooked was considered good manners, and to walk off a huge and satisfying lunch was pure enjoyment, bonding family and friends in an inexplicable time warp before speeding off once again when the festive period was over.

I wish to remind you of the purpose of this festivity as not only Jesus Christ’s birthday but as something far more important. This is a time of unique importance that comes once a year and binds us in a stream of present giving, good wine and rich foods. It does not need to be purely about self importance and gaining the best gifts. It needs to be recognised as a period of self giving, exorcising greed and indulgence.

More often than not our present buying overwhelms us, sending us in a whirlwind of frustrating comparisons and high expenditure. What more could you have got for Uncle Benjamin besides the book, the slippers and his favourite tipple. Our gifts have on the whole got extortionately expensive. The token gifts that we constantly refer to ends up being larger, whilst our children’s resolve to get the latest Nintendo or Wii machine leaves us out of pocket. Time and again we curse the high expenditure, making promises of keeping it cheaper next year, only to allow the same calamitous expectations to intercede once again.

Let us all take a breather from this mayhem and determine to make one small difference this year. Maybe we could be less indulgent in what we eat, or make our own special cards for close family and friends. A few well chosen and meaningful words are worth so much more than a glossy present. A sentiment lasts a life time whilst often the gift is forgotten within weeks. Help someone less fortunate than yourself without expecting acknowledgement, or spend an afternoon helping a friend with something they find difficult.  Send a prayer or thought to those in need and make a promise to be more compassionate.

These little steps to create a kinder world will magnify in importance if we allow them to. Watch as our world improves as others take notice and copy our gestures. Nothing goes unnoticed; someone will always be observant or grateful. Trust in our own capabilities to be more giving of ourselves and more endearing to others without spending money. We will feel altogether more spiritual adjusted and connected with our God. God bless and glad tidings to you all.

We all come to a period in our lives when friendly advice and helpful efforts to motivate us crosses the boundary of acceptability and becomes more of a curse to us than others had intended. We learn that not only are we aware of our own limitations but of others expectations and wants. It clouds our judgements and can be positively detrimental to our progress, blocking our paths and hampering our success to self recognition.

These times are sent to us as a trial, a way we can test our progress and resolve, confirming success or creating doubts. There is no point in getting upset when others pinpoint our lack of progress, blaming our moods or hot-headed traits as being the fault. We need to work it out for ourselves using a methodical approach and not allow others to lay claim to our progress.

I have been tested much like this in recent months and I can’t say that I performed well. I took umbrage at the regular pokes and the unremitting criticisms. No matter how much I tried to take the comments well, something deep inside me just couldn’t accept the on-going faults that were being thrust in my face. It takes immense courage and self respect to be balanced enough to not feel attacked or maligned at times like these, and for me it confirmed that I still had a lot of work to do on myself.

So as a result I took this sabbatical and have tried on a regular basis to improve my position, ever hopeful of drawing nearer to neutrality. I am still a long way off and may not achieve what my heart is set on in this lifetime, but I will work hard to try and attain it and in the process the lack of self motivation that has hampered me in the past will become less of an issue. I will no longer need a friendly reminder to highlight my lack of progress or have areas shown to me as being obviously in need of improvement. I will be confident of my approach and will happily digest any help that may be offered in the hope that my dream, to be neutral and balanced, will become a reality. God bless.