Last night Pam and I decorated our family Christmas tree. Like always it was a nostalgic journey. There are ornaments from every trip we’ve ever taken together, many from Maine, others that marked accomplishments of one kind or another. We still hang the occasional ornament that the kids made when they were little. Then there are the ones given to us by dear friends. It’s quite the magical experience and brings with it a profound thankfulness for the blessings of life.
Then I wake up this morning and read of a mass killing in Australia and another at Brown University in Rhode Island. The juxtaposition of the two is life as we know it in the 21st century. Honestly life has always been shot through with contradiction from the beginning, where good fortune is mixed with tragedy. It’s just that in 2025 we know about every horrible thing that takes place anywhere on earth minutes after it happens. For me, reading of some horror somewhere makes me at once more thankful for my life and more burdened for others.
At Christmas this burden seems deeper. It’s hard for me to stay in the moment of happiness and gratitude when I imagine what other families are enduring at this hour. Imagine receiving a phone call telling you that your son has been shot dead walking across campus, the pain and anguish you would be thrust into for the rest of your life.
But, that’s someone else’s burden this morning. Today as the snow falls around me I will go to church, enjoy lunch with friends, take a nap and start wrapping presents. But everywhere I go over these next couple of weeks I will pay close attention to those around me. I will look for opportunities to be a blessing to someone. I hope everyone who reads this will do the same.
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