I extend my warmest Christmas greetings to all! And an equally warm Hanukkah Sameach to my Jewish friends! Both holidays afford an opportunity for us to serve as harbingers that spread a much-needed contagion of infinite love.
Today I will focus on a Christmas message, which is equally applicable to Hanukkah. In keeping with Jesus’ injunction to “love one another,” I thought of a recent writing by my friend, who is an author and professional editor, and my in-house contracted editor, Rob Bignell, which genuinely moved me. The message in Rob’s recent post, “My Words can Light the Way,” is that a person’s writing can make a difference and can affect even one person’s life.
Rob and I corresponded, and he wrote the following, which he kindly gave me permission to reprint here. We discussed how “helping just one person” can be a reward in itself.
“And the thing is, it’s contagious. If you smile at one person tomorrow, they will smile back, sure, but probably will keep smiling for a little while until they smile at someone else…who in turn smiles back, smiles for a while and then smiles at someone else. Within an hour, thousands of people have been smiled at and are smiling at one another. It’s that simple – whether it be a smile, an act of kindness, helping someone else, or a sign of affection/love.”
-Rob Bignell
Rob’s inspirational words simply could not be expressed better. May we be inspired to spread the acts of selfless joy that Rob mentioned – smiling, gestures of kindness, helping others, signs of affection. May spreading love, joy, and peace be foremost on our minds and in our hearts as we celebrate Christmas and Hanukkah today. Both holidays have one overarching theme in common: hope. And so, may we carry out these acts of joy, kindness, and selfless giving in the spirit of hope throughout the New Year. In this way, we can serve as harbingers that spread a much-needed contagion of infinite love.
