I woke up this morning, as I have been waking up lately without my alarm, at 6:48 am. As I didn’t have to be anywhere else because of the holiday and since my son finally moved out of the house last January and would not arrive home until mid-afternoon, I simply snuggled myself back under the covers and snoozed until about 8:15. I went to check on my wife, Carol, who was busily wrapping gifts and then came to my computer desk to check email and wondered if I might have a shadow to share on the topic of Christmas. As I have repeatedly said in this blog, shadow can be found anywhere I look outside of myself wherein I experience an emotional charge either of attraction or revulsion, so I ventured to think that this might be especially so around the season of Christmas.
One shadow I think many of us might consider regarding Christmas is found in the story of old Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Here is a crotchety old geezer who considers Christmas a “humbug” a fraud, if you will, yet this is not a shadow in and of itself as it is certainly not hidden and quite open for all to see. I see the shadow here in what is hidden, that of a man once filled with love and openness, hurt by the uncertainties of life and now riddled with the pain of the unfulfilled promise of his youth as he approaches the twilight of his years.
So what does this have to do with my own shadow around the Spirit of Christmas? In the story of Scrooge, I remember how much I loathed the figure of Scrooge and never quite understood how the little boy, Tiny Tim, could overlook all that was tragic in life, even his own infirmities, and yet be able to wish God’s blessings on everyone. How often have I wished ill on someone who I believe has caused me harm in some way or equally wished harm for what someone did to another? This is my shadow, for I am Scrooge. Yet there is another shadow in forgetting that I am also Tiny Tim.
In both joy and in sorrow, I wish the blessings of Aliveness on One and All!
Peace and Long Life!
