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“Behold, I make all things new.”  Revelations 21:5 

As is my custom each year, Issue 50 will be the final edition of Abundant Living for 2024.  So, I take this opportunity to wish all of you, my faithful readers, supporters and encouragers, a blessed Christmas and holiday season with these final thoughts: 

It is not known the exact time of Jesus’ birth, which has created much speculation throughout the centuries, along with extensive scholarly research.  December 25, of course, eventually became the settled-upon date for celebrating the birth of our Lord, but no one seems to know for sure why that day was chosen either.  There are, however, several factors that may have influenced the choice.  One source I read theorized, “December 25 was the date the Romans marked as the winter solstice, the shortest and darkest day of the year, and the first day in which the days would begin to elongate, and the sun would have a longer presence in the sky.  Jesus was identified with the ‘sun’ based on an Old Testament verse [from the Book of Malachi], and the date [25^th] is exactly nine months following the Annunciation, when the conception of Jesus is celebrated.”  Several other theories exist, but no one knows for sure.

Regardless how it came about, what I find curiously fascinating about December 25 is its one-week proximity to New Year’s Day, such that in our modern world we have tended to lump them together.  I doubt that was intentional in the beginning, but perhaps through the increasing commercialization and secularizing of Christmas it has simply evolved into an extended celebration.  We say, “Merry Christmas and Happy New Year” in one breath, and commonly refer to this time of year as the “Holiday Season”, as if it were all one singular event.

There is an interesting irony in lumping the two celebrations together, for although both events celebrate new beginnings, there is a difference as New Year’s places the burden on us to begin anew, and the reason we make New Year’s resolutions.  Christmas, on the other hand, places that burden on – of all things – a Babe in a manger whose new beginnings fulfill an ancient promise of restoring mankind’s relationship with God.  And while New Year’s resolutions are sure to fail, the Babe in the manger is a sure thing – He who proclaims, “Behold, I make all things new.”    Merry Christmas!

“To accept his lot and be happy in his work – this is a gift of God.” – Ecclesiastes 5:19 

“A farmer, being at death’s door, and desiring to impart to his sons a secret of much moment, called them round him and said, ‘My sons, I am shortly about to die.   I would have you know, therefore, that in my vineyard there lies a hidden treasure.  Dig, and you will find it.’  As soon as their father was dead, the sons took spade and fork and turned up the soil of the vineyard over and over again, in their search for the treasure which they supposed to lie buried there.  They found none, however: but the vines, after so thorough a digging, produced a crop such as had never before been seen. . . . . There is no treasure without toil.”  [From Aesop’s Fables]

Once upon a time I was convinced that the goal of education and hard work was to be able to free oneself from the drudgery of having to work at all.  Perhaps that is what attracted me to the arena of Wall Street investment banking, the notion that since that is where the money is I might have the opportunity to actually accomplish that goal.  But over time my attitude changed as I came to realize that the real reward from working had little to do with wealth, and much to do with the privilege and pleasure of work itself.

In his parable of “The Rich Fool” Jesus tells about a rich man who had the good fortune of producing a big crop.  The man considered what to do so he decided he should build bigger barns in which to store his great wealth of grain, then he would have plenty so he could “take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”  “But God said to him, ‘You fool!  This very night your life will be demanded of you.’”  (Luke 12)

As I say, once upon a time I might have been tempted to claim “The Rich Fool” as my hero, believing that becoming like him was the achievement of the American dream.  Instead, nowadays I find myself thanking God for giving me work to do – paid or not – praying that I may continue to do so as long as possible; for as the wise father so cleverly taught his two sons, there is no treasure without toil, except we learn that the real treasure, the true reward, relates to much more than dollars and cents; rather it is the pleasure derived from having the opportunity to grow, serve, and be productive each and every day.  For as the wise King Solomon reminds us, “[for a person] to accept his lot and be happy in his work – this is a gift from God.”  And truly, what a gift it is!

“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat . . .” – Matthew 25:35 

There is an old Jewish parable which describes a scene from hell in which the condemned are, surprisingly, sitting together around a banquet table where a sumptuous feast is set before them (imagine Thanksgiving), except everyone is screaming out in agony because, due to their arms being stiffened, they are unable to feed themselves and enjoy the feast.  Likewise, the parable describes a scene from heaven the exact same way, including the stiffened arms.  Except in heaven the dinner guests are all laughing and enjoying a grand celebration, with their stiffened arms extending across the table feeding one another.

You should have seen the surprised expression on Sam’s face recently when he showed up for work at Hugs Café, where Tee and I volunteer two days a week.  Sam had just passed his driver’s test, and if that was not excitement enough, there awaiting his arrival were his “teammates” / colleagues, kitchen staff, volunteers, even the customers having lunch, all standing and cheering and congratulating him as he walked through the door.

The other day I found myself caught up in one of those conversations we all probably engage in far too often about all the bad things going on in the world.  Suddenly, without thinking, I interrupted with something that surprised even me.  “Everyone should have a chance to work at Hugs Café,” I blurted out.  “At Hugs only good things happen!”  Sam’s story is a prime example, only it is not unique, it happens every day, as success stories happen every day, dreams come true every day and are celebrated every day.  As for Sam, earning his driver’s license has been years in the making, now a dream come true.

“Hugs Café,” according to its website, “is a non-profit social enterprise . . . dedicated to providing meaningful training and competitively-paid employment for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.  It is our passion to offer a place of hope, understanding, grace, and success [HUGS] to each individual so they may be recognized for their abilities and talents in the community,” a place where only good things happen.

Like all restaurants, Hugs’ business is feeding people.  But as Sam’s story attests it is also a place where, like the heavenly banquet, people feed each other.  May Thanksgiving be like that for all of us, a time for reaching out to feed each other, and being thankful.

“But to each one of us grace has been given.”  – Ephesians 4:7 

The young man sat across from me, his face buried in his hands sobbing.  I had just fired him, on the grounds of poor performance, and he was understandably devastated, explaining between sobs how he had never before failed at anything in his life.  It caused me to have some second thoughts, which in turn stimulated an idea that might at least salvage his employment, if not in a lesser position at a much-reduced salary.  He jumped at that second chance.  Before long he became a rising star, his career eventually surpassing my own.  Some years later another young man applied for a position I had available, but the interview did not go well.  Realizing he had blown the interview, the next day he called begging for a second chance.  That second interview landed him the job, and he too eventually grew to become a successful professional.

Lest my arm break from patting myself on the back for my gracious deeds, let me hasten to confess that whatever benevolence I may have offered those two young men is minuscule compared to the grace I have received in my own life over and over again.  And I am pretty sure that realization went through my head in having second thoughts about the firing, and in offering a second chance at the interview.  Who was I, after all, to deny grace when I had received so much?

In his parable of the Prodigal Son, Jesus tells the story [also] about a young man who after asking for and receiving his inheritance from his father ran away and squandered it all on wild living.  Finally, broke and desperate, he decided to return home in the hope that his father might at the very least employ him as a lowly servant.  Instead, his father ran out and wrapped his arms around his son, welcoming him home, then threw a grand party to celebrate his return.  Oh, the gracious gift of a second chance!

By its very definition, grace is a gift that is undeserved and that no one can earn.  And to be brutally honest, neither of those young men deserved a second chance, any more than the Prodigal Son in Jesus’ parable, nor the countless second chances I have received in my own life.  “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it,” the Apostle Paul reminds us.  So, the best we can do in return, I suppose, is to try to apportion a bit of that grace to others every chance we get.

“They were unschooled, ordinary men.”  – Acts 4:13 

A young girl was walking along a beach one day upon which thousands of starfish had washed up during a terrible storm.  People noticed with amusement as the girl began picking up the starfish one at a time tossing them back into the ocean.  After some time a man approached her and said, “Little girl, why are you doing this?  Look at the size of this beach, you can’t possibly save all these starfish.  You can’t begin to make a difference.”  The girl simply bent down and picked up another starfish hurling it into the ocean, then looked up at the man and replied, “Well, it made a difference to that one!”

I know I am repeating an old story we have all heard a thousand times, except I recently discovered there is more to the story than I had previously known.  It seems the man was so startled by the young girl’s response that it caused him to pause and reflect. Then, reaching down, he too picked up a starfish and threw it back into the sea.  Soon others joined in, then a whole crowd.  Amazing the influence one ordinary little girl can have on a group of ordinary people meandering on a beach, and saving thousands of starfish!

“Not all of us can do great things,” Mother Teresa once said.  “But we can all do small things with great love.”  We underestimate ourselves, I’m afraid, when we depend on high level politicians, corporate CEO’s, sports and entertainment superstars, and other notables to change things for the better.  Sure, their influence can certainly be impactful, but so is yours and mine.  The moms and dads donating time to coach kids’ sport teams, serving as scout leaders, or simply showing up in support; those may not be considered great things, yet small things with great love.  Inevitably some child’s life will be influenced by that, who in turn will someday influence another life in a positive way.

Jesus too was walking along a beach one day when he encountered some fishermen.  “They were unschooled, ordinary men,” the scriptures tell us, yet they heeded his summons to follow along where they witnessed Jesus perform healings and other miracles, one person at a time – just like the little girl saving the starfish.  Soon the fishermen began to perform healings and miracle too.  Others began to join in, then a crowd – and the ordinary became extraordinary.  And that’s how it happens when ordinary people do small things with great love.