Season of hope...

So, there I found myself yesterday, sitting at Sunday morning Mass, and the priest brought up an interesting point of the readings. From Isaiah, Romans, and Matthew, he drew upon how each of them speaks of "hope." And, of course, to drive the point home, he mentioned how we, too, find ourselves hoping in this season. A child hopes Santa finds him or her on the "nice" list, while parents hope they have enough money to help Santa make this stuff happen. Many in this day and age have a lot of things we hope for. Jobs, a turnaround in this economy, politicians we can trust, our men and women home safely from fighting overseas, and a myriad of other things that we want.

It made me realize that I hear so many people getting stressed out and upset during this season. They're often mean to others, bitter and unwelcoming. It makes me wonder why, when we're supposed to be in a giving mood, in a hopeful mood, we are instead angry at others - many of them very close to us - our family and friends. There are "realists" out there who would probably remind me that "it's difficult to stay hopeful," and they're right. It's not easy. No one ever promised it was easy, only that the reward, the prize at the end, was worth the effort. But, we were also never told that we had to do it all by ourselves. We need each other to survive.

Don't waste time and energy getting upset about things this holiday season. Instead, I would ask that each time you're really tempted to get upset and rant and rave - any instance where you're going to lose hope - focus instead on giving hope to someone else. A hug, a handshake, an "atta-boy," a word of encouragement, of thanks. Tell a parent who's having a tough time wrangling their children how precious those curtain climbers are. Compliment a stranger randomly. Or a coworker. Thank a police officer for their duty. Buy the person behind you in line a cup of coffee. Especially when you're feeling down, and not particularly hopeful - give hope to someone else. Ask nothing in return.

Thanks for reading.

The Fat Kid