Singlestalk: 2012

Saturday, December 31, 2011

MICHELLE: It’s 2012! And the best gift I am so thankful for in 2011 is the gift of life and of family. We spent the holidays in the hospital because our five-month-old daughter had an infection and the antibiotics had to be given intravenously. One might say one of the worst things that can happen at Christmas is to spend it in a hospital. But I am still grateful despite what happened to us compared to the tragedy others have undergone. As I write, the victims of the flood that ravaged Cagayan de Oro and Iligan have yet to recover. The incident makes us realize even more that material gifts are not what really matter. What matter most are our families, loved ones and friends and the time we have been given to be with them.

DJ: Sendong shattered the hopes of many people in CDO and Iligan. It left 1,200 dead with around 45,000 people still trying to come to terms with the lives, properties and relationships they lost. This is definitely not the time to be stressed out by yearend tax deductions. We still definitely have so much to be thankful for and are in a better position to think about what we can give rather than what we should receive.

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M: The weeks leading up to Christmas day were a flurry of activity. Last-minute shopping, wrapping gifts, attending Christmas parties had many of us focused on everything except the reason for the season and what His birth meant.
The time at the hospital watching over my daughter gave me the time to reflect, to pray, to count my blessings and appreciate more the privilege of being a mother. God works in mysterious ways. Even if we don’t understand it sometimes, we need to learn to trust in Him and bask in His great love for us. To me, that is the real essence of the season. To have joy in one’s heart despite one’s circumstances and to have faith and trust that all will be well.

DJ: There was once a story of a man told by the village deity that he would find a monk outside the village who had a stone that would make him extremely wealthy. Early the next morning, he found the monk under a tree, woke him up and asked him for a stone. The monk quietly took out a stone from his little bundle of possessions and gave it to the man. It was a large diamond as big as a fist. The man was overjoyed and ran back to the village. He was rich! Richer than everyone he ever knew.

But that night he couldn’t sleep. He remembered the monk at the edge of the village who gave him the diamond without the slightest hesitation. Early the next morning, he went back to the monk, woke him up and said, “Yesterday you gave me the biggest diamond that made me extremely wealthy. I will give it back to you if you can give me in return the inner wealth and contentment you have that made you give it to me.” Indeed, it’s true. The richest person is not the one who has the most but the one who needs the least.

M: The lines from the song “Do they know it’s Christmas?” by Band Aid sums up what I feel right now. “It’s Christmas time, there’s no need to be afraid. At Christmas time, we let in light and we banish shade. And in our world of plenty we can spread a smile of joy. Throw your arms around the world at Christmas time. But say a prayer, pray for the other ones. ... There’s a world outside your window. And it’s a world of dread and fear. Where the only water flowing is the bitter sting of tears. And the Christmas bells that ring there are the clanging chimes of doom, well tonight thank God it’s them instead of you.” Let’s be grateful for what we have and what we do not have. At the end of the day, the things that matter are not things.

DJ: God gave us 1,440 minutes today. Let’s use even just a minute of that to say “thank you.” We have enough. Even in times that nothing could be worse, there’s always something to be thankful for. Let’s learn to look for the good in every situation. We experience best life’s joy even with its imperfections when we have an attitude of gratitude. May we all have a blessed, meaningful and grateful 2012!