I’m not unlike many this time of year. I love so many movies that are oriented around Christmas and the messages of peace, hope, and love. To that end you likely already know I’m not going to be writing a critically acclaimed piece here on the movie “Diehard”. Instead I’m going to take a moment to reflect on one of the classics and one of my favorites. That would be the Dickens’s classic “A Christmas Carol”. There are so many lessons that we learn from the various characters in this story. Lessons of humility, lessons of strength, lessons of hope, and lessons of love. This year as I considered all of it I was drawn to ask my own question and that is “What are your ghosts of past, present, and future and how do they form the person you are?”
Truth is that everyone could take a deep dive on this one if we wanted to. I would like to tell you all that I have no regrets, but in full disclosure that frankly would not be true. A better statement would be that those ghosts of Christmas past made me who I am in spite of the inability to always make the best choices. Wisdom has guided me to learn from them every day and I do all I can to prevent them from affecting the present. In fairness, the present has enough of its own ghosts. For me, like many, these are related to being so caught up in the wheel of life that I don’t take enough time to cherish each moment for its significance. This leads to missing the presence of blessings until they become memories. And, oh those ghosts of Christmas yet to come! As much as I try to live in the present I have a propensity to lean into my anxiety about the future. I worry about family, friends, and the world around me. I worry that I won’t do enough to make the future all as it should be. Each day I wrestle with these ghosts as I’m sure you all do in your own way.
So that leads me to ask again “What are your ghosts of past, present, and future and how have they formed and continue to form who you are today?” I encourage you all to take a moment and spend some time considering how your own ghosts can be a great advantage to making you a better person. Can you or will you allow them to teach you or will you ignore their existence?
Quite a post I know and likely a little different twist on Christmas movies. Yes, I’ll save the discussion on “Diehard” for another time. Until then, I hope that this December you all will join me on this adventure into considering how we can grow from where we came, where we are, and where we will be. My guess is that we will all be better for it!