Happy Holidays Dear Friends!
It’s Christmas time once again and even though there are a great number of people in the world that have seemingly lost the ability to feel love, peace, joy and celebration, where do you stand? Have you given up on “holiday cheer”? Do you have any plans at all that are festive and playful? I certainly hope so.
The reason that people can sometimes so easily forget to celebrate is because they are allowing the outside world to determine whether or not there’s anything to celebrate. But if we focus on the internal gifts that come from our connectedness with God, we would always find a reason to celebrate. We would smile and sing and find numerous other ways to express the undeniable joy we feel.
The contrast between these two extremes—depression versus joy—should be quite obvious. But let’s focus, for just a moment, only on the positive side: experiencing joy and the many other gifts of God. Even when we do allow such wonderful things into our lives, have you ever noticed that there’s a part of us that wonders when it’s going to come to an end? So although many of us have apparently allowed the world to get the best of us, and therefore lost the ability to celebrate, even those who do feel inclined to celebrate often wonder when their goodness will fall apart. We do this with relationships, financial abundance and so many other aspects of life. For example, we might take a vacation but there’s a part of our mind that is always aware that the vacation will come to an end and we have to go back to work. And when it comes to relationships, they can be going quite well, but there’s a part of our mind that tends to sabotage it to spare ourselves the letdown of having it end on us.
One of the gifts that was brought to the baby Jesus by the Three Wise Men was a chest filled with gold. Have you ever wondered what happened to all that gold? Did you hear about Joseph and Mary paying off the Romans to leave them alone so they could have a better life? No. Did you hear about them buying a winter home in the Bahamas? No. What they did with the gold was share it with those in need. They took one gift and divided it into 1000 gifts for many. That’s because when we give a gift, the gift becomes a permanent part of our heart and soul. In other words our consciousness is raised to a new level by the healthy intention behind any sincere gift. The family of Jesus became internally wealthy by sharing the external gift they received.
This year, like every year, your Board Members and a few other participants, will once again gather some of our own personal funds/savings and drive around some of the nearby towns giving away money to people in need. Again, we will use our own money, not Unity’s. But if any of you want to give funds to our office specifically designated for us to add to the pot to be shared with others, please feel free to contribute. Again, we do not want you to take this gift from your usual Sunday donations nor from any other finances you would have otherwise given to Unity for our operating expenses. We’re just saying that if you have anything extra, you’re welcome to add it to the pot and we will put it to great use. We will not announce the origin of these gifts to the local community nor to the recipients. This is not about advertising Unity of Sedona, nor is it about receiving accolades. It’s also not about proving what kind of amazing people attend Unity of Sedona. It’s about being the Presence of God in a world that sometimes grows weary and forgets what it feels like to feel worthy of receiving God’s gifts.
Yes, Christmas is partly about presents. But giving material presents is only a small way to extend greater, Holy Presence. In other words, we will be giving away material gifts but hidden behind them will be a prayerful intention that the recipients also receive a gift from God and an answer to their prayers—also known as a miracle.
Love and Light,
Michael Mirdad
