magic

Crawford Chronicles 2022

The more years I collect the more I see the importance of the little things.  The words we speak to each other, the manor in how they’re spoken, how we regard one another truly in our heart of hearts, these are things I thought I knew the importance of.  But when we’re young what we see is often without depth and that genuine substance.  Authenticity seems a far off concept, like looking at the stars.  We pour our time, energy, creativity into making a living, raising a family, buying a house.  And it is not until 25 or 30 years later that we see with deeper vision that we were pouring ourselves out for a career, a lineage, making a home.  We can have all the ingredients for a happy life and still not be happy.  What is the magic that makes these ingredients not merely goals or what we’re supposed to do, but kneads them into a powerful sustenance that fosters true contentment? 

I have heard the mantra from my Gen Xers, “No regrets!”  I’ve shouted it myself at different times in my life.  But truly, I have regrets.  I have done things I wish I did not, I have allowed things to slip, been neglectful, hurtful, and even downright nasty.  I look back on those times and wish I would have been more thoughtful, more purposeful, had a deeper vision.  I feel bad, and sometimes I tell myself I must be bad to have acted thusly.  Perhaps you have too.  But if that were true, would we look with regret at such times?  Regret is proof that we are learning, that we are growing, that we are willing to view with authenticity those moments.  Why do we have regret?  Why do we wish we would have acted differently?  It is because of that magic that brings it all together.  It is because of love.  It is like an instinct in us that we discover deeper and deeper levels of as we collect years and experience.  It is in us like the need to survive, to find meaning, to really live.

Where did it come from?  We do not possess the perfection we see in the stars, but we long for it.  It is a reflection in us of the One Who made us.  Where do we look for perfection, where do we look for rightness, truth, integrity?  We look to God.  God is love, and being made in His image and likeness, it is in us, too.  Life is the process of perfecting that magic, kneading it like dough, burning out the dross, becoming more and more like the Creator.  It is why we tend our infants, instruct our youth, give and receive guidance.  Love is the ingredient in life that helps us to desire good things, that causes us to strive, that makes our regrets into points of turning away from our baser instincts toward the fullness and richness of contentment.

Remember the little things this Season, the smiles, the touches, the hugs, the genuine interactions with each other that spur us on to love and good deeds.  If nothing else I want to be an encouragement to those around me, especially my loved ones-family.  It is why we celebrate Christmas, the time when our Heavenly Father gave all He had to bring us from far away from Him into His embrace.  Jesus came that we all may have life-the ingredients, and that we may have it to the full-the magic!  Have a magical Christmas!