Hanukkah/Christmas Connection

Today I "Recycle, Reduce & Reuse" a blessing that I sent last year because it is important for all of us to feel connected to one another as children of one God... we are ONE people... we are blessed and need to spread the LOVE for one another always.... 

Shalom from my heart to yours....

Tonight, my Jewish friends will begin to celebrate Hanukkah... since I grew up with several Jewish friends and celebrate the Jewish Holidays with them.. and they celebrate the Catholic Holidays with me... it is only befitting that I write a blessing about the connection that we share.....

Hanukkah is the Feast of Dedication that celebrates the victory of the Jewish freedom fighters over the evil Antiochus Epiphanes of the Syrian-Greek Empire. Antiochus (215-164 BC), who was nicknamed "The Madman," felt threatened by the Jewish people and decided to turn the Jews into good Greeks. He demanded that the Jewish people bow down to his statue, worship him as a Greek god incarnate and submit to his authority. The Jews hated idols and would never bow down to one-and they could never believe that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was incarnated in the person of Antiochus Epiphanes! The Jews rebelled... Mattathias and his son Judah Maccabee led a grassroots rebellion from about 167 to 165 BC. The Maccabees fought hard and finally took Jerusalem and the Temple back in great victory.

After the victory, the Maccabees only had enough olive oil to fuel the eternal light in the Temple for one day-but it took eight days to crush the olives and prepare the oil. The miracle of Hanukkah is this: the oil, which should have only lasted one day, lasted for eight...

While I definitely believe that this was a miracle, I think that the real miracle of Hanukkah is that God once again preserved His chosen people against all odds... The Lord kept His promise to Israel that they would not be destroyed (Jeremiah 31:35-37).

God preserved His people because He had chosen them for a glorious purpose that was yet to be fulfilled!

.. and because of this promise, Christianity came to be.... Almost 200 years later, God sent His final and ultimate Word of redemption and sacrifice ... Jesus the Messiah... to purchase the salvation of Jews and Gentiles with His own life. If God had not enabled the Maccabees to overthrow Antiochus, the Jewish people may very well have been destroyed. If the Jewish people had been destroyed, then the birth of the Savior could never have taken place!

The true link between Hanukkah and Christmas is very simple:

God is faithful and always keeps His promises. 

Therefore... I believe that without Hanukkah, there would be no Christmas.

So... my Christian friends... please say Happy Hanukkah to the Jewish people in your lives... and my Jewish friends... please say Merry Christmas to the Christians in your lives.... While it seems nice to simply say "Happy Holidays"... it's nicer still to acknowledge the connection we all share as children of one God... because we are loved beyond measure and a cherished blessing to the world...

May you all be blessed with everything good...

With love,

Elena

Righteous Minds

Hello from my heart to yours....

"I am here to help you to find, take back, and keep your righteous mind."

                                                      Melvin B. Tolson, Professor, poet, columnist

I have missed you all this past week or so... I'd like to say I was on some spectacular vacation and I didn't have internet.. and that I have a million adventure stories to write to you about... but nope... just maybe trying to keep my righteous mind as the winds of winter come blowing in... not that I expect a blizzard of sorts in Miami.. lol... but my life always seems to change with the seasons... 

This is OUR holiday week... at sunset tomorrow, Hanukkah, the "Festival of Lights" begins ... and at midnight on Saturday, the "Light of the World" (as Christians refer to Jesus Christ) is born... It's hard to keep our righteous minds during the holidays... we run around like lunatics trying to find the perfect gifts... preparing for family visitors... worrying about what we are gong to eat, etc.... or we may be so overwhelmed with thoughts of loved ones who are no longer with us... or feelings of loneliness because we cannot be with our families and friends... etc.... I don't know... Holidays are tricky...our minds and our hearts can become clouded.... and the true meaning of our celebrations can get lost in the turmoil of it all...  

Wouldn't it be nice if we truly took the time and made the effort to help people find, take back and keep their righteous minds during these "luminous" miracle days?  We all carry "light" within us...this is a recurring theme of mine, I know... I suppose that I am simply trying to find ways to make sure I can always see someone's light... and ways to ensure that everyone sees my light, too... I believe that we can clear one another's minds by trying to see God's light in the eyes of everyone we run into.  Our souls are an expression of God's creation.. if we see this, (whether the other person does or not), we could really change the way we see one another and this would be an amazing world. We wouldn't rush each other in traffic, growl at store clerks and one another during the holidays, or dread seeing family members (who are unaware) during this time.... We would just look at each other and see LOVE.

So, let this be our endeavor this week - to practice this and to try to see God in everyone's eyes. It isn't always easy, but it certainly could be a lot of fun.  When you try to see God in everyone, you DO have fun because you feel like a child saying, "Oh there you are God," and "There you are again," and "There You are all around me." Sometimes the greatest blessings are too obvious to see. And here goes the tangent...because as I write this, a scene from the movie "City of Angels" comes to mind... the angel is sitting at the picnic table and the little girl comes to him and looks into his eyes.. she smiles and asks "Can you hear it? ... I'm growing."  She could see him for what he was... an angel... a messenger from God... and how cool would that be?

Anyway.... May you always be willing to see and find God's light in everyone's eyes so that everyone can keep their righteous minds ... and in the process, you may even see an angel or two.... because we are all loved beyond measure and a cherished blessing to the world.

May your day be filled with all things good.

With love,

Elena

Let It Be

Hello from my heart to yours...

 

"When I find myself in times of trouble....Mother Mary comes to me... Speaking words of wisdom, "Let it be."                Paul McCartney, Beatles

 

 

Today is the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  I am recycling an email that I sent 2 years ago because, as thoughts are simply thrown out into the Universe that way, a fabulous friend of mine sent me a text yesterday that read, "I miss my girls... I miss my mom... but onward soldiers.. Mother Mary loves me... Let it be..." I'm sure he wasn't even thinking about today when he wrote that.. but it triggered my memory and I knew that I had written a blessing about it... so, here it is...

The priest gave a very interesting Homily using "Let it Be" by Paul McCartney.  Paul's mother died when he was a teenager and in his turmoil, he dreamt of his mother, whose name was Mary, coming to him and telling him to just "Let it be."  It was never supposed to be a religious song, however, there are many Catholics who have taken the song to be a tribute to Mary, the Mother of Jesus, as the interceder of our prayers...

 

Anyway, regardless of that, the words "Let it be" keep ringing in my ears..... There are so many times in our lives when things happen and we rack our brains and search our hearts for an answer, but it just does not come.... we can drive ourselves crazy trying to understand why people behave the way they do... why people get sick... why people die needlessly... why our lives aren't going as we would like... why there is so much turmoil in our world .... 

...and what good does all that thinking... and rehashing conversations... and playing the scene over and over in our heads... and questioning life as it is ... do?  None.

 

As a woman of faith, I believe that what we need to do is simply pray.... just let it be and offer our prayers up to God, who is always listening and will give us the answers when we are ready to receive them... Isaiah 41:13 reads, "For I am the LORD your God, who upholds your right hand, Who says to you, 'Do not fear, I will help you.'  If we trust in God, our prayers will be answered.... and maybe our first prayer should be ..

 

"My God, take my hand and help me to trust in You and just LET IT BE." Amen.

 

Pray with an open heart because as the song says.... . 

"There will be an answer, let it be.  Let it be, let it be, Whisper words of wisdom, let it be. "

May you always remember that you are loved beyond measure and are a cherished blessing to the world.... 

may your day be blessed with all things good.

With love,

Elena

 

and if you have 3 minutes... here is the song... 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRCPQFVWrRE

Children Teach Us

Hello from my heart to yours....

"While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about."
                                                                          ~Angela Schwindt

"Hey... I left some letters from St. Nicholas for the kids next to your column outside" .... 

"You are a mischievous elf, aren't you? .. but that's great, we would've forgotten.." 

(text conversation between myself and a friend)

Yesterday, was the feast day of St. Nicholas.. not Santa Claus... but the Catholic Saint... I don't know when I began the lunacy of writing letters to all the children in my family, which now includes some extended family as well, but I think it was about 9 or 10 years ago.... on average, I write from 12-20 letters each year... yes, lunacy....

The message in each letter is to generally praise the child for all of his/her virtues, good deeds, excellent schoolwork, etc. during the past year... St. Nicholas writes about how proud he is of the way they love God, their parents and siblings and friends... and then, maybe one or two things they need to work at to improve some comportment that is not nice as they prepare for the miracle of the Christ-child's birth... The letter closes with a reminder to them of the reason we celebrate Christmas and how they need to pray and meditate about it... 

So anyway, with all that said... I go back to the quote.... last night I saw 6 of the children who received letters... and all of them were talking about what St. Nick had written and brought them.. (I, also, leave one small gift... a bracelet, candy cane socks, a book...) ... and then, Samantha, who is 7, comes to me and says, "Want to read the letter I got?" ... I said, "Sure, you have it with you?" and she took off her Santa hat and pulled the letter out... amazed, I asked her, "Have you been carrying the letter with you all day in your hat?" and she responded, "Yep, I sure have... it's the most wonderful letter I've ever gotten.."  Need-less-to-say, I was holding back the tears as I pretended to read the letter for the first time... 

Children have a way of teaching us what life is about that way... the way they easily and naturally believe and have faith and have hope in the goodness of life and love... their innocence and pureness of heart helps us see things in such a different perspective... they don't think deeply, and yet, their thoughts and actions are so deep... God's light shines brightly through their hearts and they don't even realize it... they are amazing little people... and during the next 3 weeks, as we all prepare to celebrate the miracles of each of our religions, children make the preparation even more spectacular with the happy hope they share with us ... through the anticipation and excitement with which they speak to us of what's on their "list", what parties they have, their plans for winter recess, etc. ... the sparkle in their eyes.. the smiles they offer... the love that flows freely... all of these things teach us about how we should see "life" and all the miracles of it... 

May you all delight in the miracles of December... may your eyes and ears and hearts be open to a child's perspective and/or explanation of all the magical things that happen in December ... learn from them about life and renew your faith... restore your hope... rejoice in the love.... 

We are all loved beyond measure and are cherished blessings to the world....

With love,

Elena

Wreath of Love

Hello from my heart to yours....

 

"Come out of the circle of time and into the circle of love."       Rumi, Persian classical poet

 

Wreaths are everywhere....   As a Catholic, this is the basic symbolism of the wreath that I believe... 

The circle of the wreath reminds me of God Himself, His eternity and endless mercy, which has no beginning or end.... it is the circle of life, the turning of seasons, and our eternal nature.  The green of the wreath speaks of the hope that I have in God, the hope of newness, of renewal, of eternal life.... the candles represent Christ, “the Light that came into the world” to dispel the darkness of sin and to radiate the truth and love of God (John 3:19-21)

Now, this is a little history on "wreaths".... In ancient times, wreaths were made of holly... Celts believed that holly had magical protective powers... In Roman mythology, holly was sacred to Saturn, the Sun God.. and Pagans worshipped holly. Needless to say, the use of "holly" Christmas wreaths, for the celebration of the birth of Christ, was controversial because of their association with magical power, multi-theism and paganism.

Wreaths symbolized pride and victory... they were used at weddings... and Greeks used laurel wreaths, sometime around 77 B.C., as crowns to award athletes who finished first in the Olympics.  Military heroes and kings wore wreaths in Rome... women belonging to the elite class wore them as a fashion accessory ..... By the Middle Ages, the Christians began using the wreath during Advent, as part of their spiritual preparation for Christmas, and by 1600, both Catholics and Lutherans adopted formal practices surrounding the Advent wreath in preparation for Christmas.

Today, we see all kinds of wreaths, including beautiful blue and silver Hanukkah wreaths... whatever religion you practice, wreaths are a wonderful way to decorate for this glorious season of miracles that we will all be celebrating... so let us think in terms like this: a wreath is a circle ...  a circle symbolizes LOVE.... 

During the holiday season, step into the circle of love... Enjoy each moment rather than worrying about what is next. Begin today by slowing down and embracing each moment.  Do not let the stress of the holidays consume you.... instead, sit in the circle and invite others to join in... offer an outstretched hand full of love... to help you visualize this, think back to when you were in kindergarten maybe and all activities started with forming a circle... it is a powerful thing... so much so that when I was in the Master's program for Elementary Education, we learned a song to bring the kids together.. it went something like this... "Let us form a ring..dancing as we sing... ring-a-ring-a-rella.. bring in all the fella's... while our voices sing... let us form a ring ... ring-a-ring-a-rella .... ring-a-ring-a-rella .... " The kids delighted in this activity inmensely...

There is so much strength in a circle especially when it is full of love.  Stop for a moment today and create a circle with your families... your children... your friends... and say a little prayer of thanksgiving.. Thank God for the blessing that YOU are.. and the blessing that your loved ones are to you.  I guarantee that you'll feel the love and not want to let go of the hands holding yours.

May you be willing to create circles of love because you are loved beyond measure and a cherished blessing to the world...

May your day be filled with all things good,

With love,

Elena

Bursting Colors

Today, I am recycling an old blessing after hearing "Firework" by Katy Perry... "come on let your colors burst.... boom, boom, boom.. even brighter than the moon, moon, moon.. it's always been inside of you.. and now it's time to let it through..."

 

Hello from my heart to yours...

 

"Maybe we should develop a Crayola bomb as our next secret weapon. A happiness weapon.  A beauty bomb.  And every time a crisis developed, we would launch one.  It would explode high in the air - explode softly - and send thousands, millions, of little parachutes into the air.  Floating down to earth - boxes of Crayolas.  And we wouldn't go cheap, either - not little boxes of eight.  Boxes of sixty-four, with the sharpener built right in.  With silver and gold and copper, magenta and peach and lime, amber and umber and all the rest.  And people would smile and get a little funny look on their faces and cover the world with imagination."                                                                                                                    ~ Robert Fulghum
                                                Author of "All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten"  
Of course, this may sound ridiculous, but if you remember back to your childhood full of crayons and coloring books, you will probably remember that you did most of your coloring on a rainy day... when you couldn't go outside to play.... a sad day for any child.  Coloring is soothing to one's heart and can brighten up anyone's day.  The next time you feel down or sad, take out a sheet of paper and color... you'll be surprised at how happy the colors will make you feel.... and if you don't believe me, ask any child.

 

May you always be able to see the crayola explosion and be a happy part of it... may you always go BOOM BOOM BOOM and let your colors burst...

 

And may you always be aware that you are loved beyond measure and a cherished blessing to me.

 

May your weekend be filled with everything good...

With love,

Elena

Fluff in the Ears

Hello from my heart to yours....

 

The other day, my friend posted the following quote on her Facebook wall...

 

"If the person you are talking to doesn't appear to be listening, be patient. It may simply be that he has a small piece of fluff in his ear."  Winnie the Pooh ( to Eeyore ), Pooh's Little Instruction Book

 

Of course, being the Tigger that I am, the first thought that came to my mind was ... I'll just pounce on them if they aren't listening.... however, I know that this is soooo wrong.... lol

 

In thinking more about what Pooh said, I realized that we all could learn a lot from this quote.  First and foremost, I thought of it in terms of prayer... prayer and meditation are very important to me... last night, Giorgio and I were headed to see a "sneak viewing" of War Horse... the traffic was horrific and I really thought we wouldn't make it in time.  So, I was warning Giorgio that we may miss it... he turned off his Nintendo DS and said, "Well, how many "Hail Mary's" in the Rosary... 50?... I'm gonna start praying.." and he did.. and the time seemed to pass more quickly... and we did make it into the theater with 2 minutes to spare... now, I don't really think God had to do with the traffic moving a little quicker really, but hey, Giorgio thought it worked and when he sat down he said, "Thank You, God." and that made my heart smile for sure...

 

We all may feel that God is not listening because we pray and our prayers are not being answered.... but this isn't so... God is always listening... the problem is that we are not patient people... we want an instant response... we may not actually need our prayers answered when we want them to be.. God knows when we are ready for the answers to our supplications...

 

Now, let's talk about our loved ones that always seem to have "fluff in their ears"... maybe we're not speaking to them at the right time as they may be preoccupied with something else... or maybe we are using words that they do not understand (like when we are speaking to children about something)... or maybe we are just chit-chatting and what we are saying is truly insignificant to them... I don't know...

 

Certainly, we do not want to be accused of having fluff in our ears... what we probably need to try to do is. this.....when someone is telling us something, listen to the beginning of what is being said... maybe even a little more and then, step back and ask yourself  "Can I give this person my attention right now?"... "Is this something that needs to be addressed immediately?"... "how important is it to this person that I listen attentively?" ... course, I say this, but am terrible about practicing it... the first thought that comes to my mind as I write this is how I totally dismiss my mother when she is talking... even last night, she asked me if she could have 20 minutes of my time to listen to her... and guess what I thought, "20 minutes?!.. that's a long time..." so horrible of me, I know.  With my boys, I have no patience to "listen" to their chit-chat... I try, but then find that I am simply saying, "yes..oh great.. good.. okay, perfect" and then I have no idea really what was said.. with the older ones I say, "just tell me EXACTLY what it is you want to say... "  

 

Anyway, so I guess the best way to start a conversation is to be considerate...(like my mother was to me)... ask the person you want to speak with "Do you have a minute to speak to me?"  I notice that one of my brothers tries to do this when he calls me... he'll say, "Are you busy? can I tell you a story?" .. or he says, "Quick question, do you have a sec?"  Most of the time, the other person will be receptive and listen... naturally though, you have to be prepared for rejection as well.. and you can't get upset about it.... as that is part of the definition of patience... ( persevering in the face of delay or provocation without becoming annoyed or upset ) ... this is so much easier said than done.... Believe me, I know from experience ... especially because I have another brother who just starts talking and talking and talking and then says I am the rude one when I say, "get to the point already..." lol

 

Back to God... (because today, I am trying to be the blessed person He intends for me to be, unlike yesterday... with the dead horses thing...whew...) ... anyway, He is patient and He never has fluff in his ears... He is the only One listening to us all the time... which reminds me of one more thing.. when I was a teenager I read a book called, Are you there God, it's me Margaret ... she was an awkward teenager who kept a journal about what she was going through as a young person... and in doing so, grew to understand oh so many things about herself and her fellow teenaged friends....

 

... if you feel that no one is listening to you when you want to speak, then simply do as Margaret did and speak to God or the Universe or whatever Spiritual Being you believe in... because you are loved beyond measure and a cherished blessing to the world.... and eventually you will receive an answer from that Source... have faith, hope and love in your heart... and by all means, make sure you remove the fluff in your ears so that you are open to receive the answers to your prayers and meditations... 

 

May your day be blessed with all things good,

With love,

Elena