"Christ was Love"

I know, these are times when forwarding is treated more like spamming. Everyday, each of us opens the inbox to see a clutter of emails, some genuine, most unwanted. And among those genuine emails, most would again be some odd forwards. Some hate these forwarded emails. Some just delete them, whereas some read them. Some love sharing those again with their friends and dear ones. Some just dont bother. And in between all these "some" emails, there comes an email that one cannot forget through their lifetimes. I happen to receive one such email just 2 days ago. For a long time I deliberated on how to share it. I did want to put it up on my blog here. But putting up just another forwarded email is not the intent of having a blog, right? So, after much deliberation, I decided in favour of "sharing" the story with you all.

After you read the story below, please pause for a moment and think. Think deep within yourselves... How often do we jump at the opportunity to catch someone on the wrong foot? How often do we pride doing a "gotcha" on someone? Is it not said that we do not stop to think about the person in that moment... and whatever happened to the probability that a wrong or an oversight can happen purely by chance? {*1} I learnt these from someone - Always give the benefit of doubt in favour of the other & Never laugh at the meek, for you will never know when you would be the meeker one! I try to imbibe those in my daily life. It gives me some peace and some happiness. And often - I get to learn something golden.

Like all the people learnt in the story below. "Christ was Love".
(Thanks to Vishal Augustine for sharing this great story!)

Happy reading... & Wishing you all a great 2006 to follow.

*1: Call me a dreamer and optimist. I wholeheartedly agree. Tell me I am not a realist... again, I agree. Somehow, I feel that being an optimist has made me into the person that I am today. And it was not an overnight revelation that happened. It was the result of a series of fortunate events, associations and experiences... I call them the threads in the fabric that I know as my life.

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Christwas Love

Last year, I vowed to make Christmas a calm and peaceful experience. I cut back on nonessential obligations--extensive card writing, endless baking, decorating, and even overspending. Yet still, I found myself exhausted, unable to appreciate the precious family moments, and of course, the true meaning of Christmas. My son, Nicholas was in kindergarten. It was an exciting season for a six year old. For weeks, he'd been memorizing songs for his school's "Winter Pageant." I didn't have the heart to tell him I'd be working the night of the production.

Unwilling to miss his shining moment, I spoke with his teacher. She assured me there'd be a dress rehearsal the morning of the presentation. All parents unable to attend that evening were welcome to come then. Fortunately, Nicholas seemed happy with the compromise. So, the morning of the dress rehearsal, I filed in ten minutes early, found a spot on the cafeteria floor and sat down. Around the room, I saw several other parents quietly scampering to their seats. As I waited, the students were led into the room.

Each class, accompanied by their teacher, sat cross-legged on the floor. Then, each group, one by one, rose to perform their song. Because the public school system had long stopped referring to the holiday as "Christmas", I didn't expect anything other than fun, commercial entertainment--songs of reindeer, Santa Claus, snowflakes and good cheer. So, when my son's class rose to sing, "Christmas Love," I was slightly taken aback by its bold title. Nicholas was aglow, as were all of his classmates, adorned in fuzzy mittens, red sweaters, and bright snowcaps upon their heads.
Those in the front row--center stage--held up large letters, one by one, to spell out the title of the song. As the class would sing "C is for Christmas," a child would hold up the letter C. Then, "H is for Happy," and on and on, until each child holding up his portion had presented the complete message, "Christmas Love."
The performance was going smoothly, until suddenly, we all noticed her; a small, quiet, girl in the front row holding the letter "M" upside down--totally unaware her letter "M" appeared as a "W".

The audience of 1st through 6th graders snickered at this little one's mistake. But she had no idea they were laughing at her, so she stood tall, proudly holding her "W".

Although many teachers tried to shush the children, the laughter continued until the last letter was raised, and we all saw it together. A hush came over the audience and eyes began to widen.

In that instant, we understood the reason we were there; why we celebrated the holiday in the first place; why, even in the chaos, there was a purpose for our festivities.

For when the last letter was held high, the message read loud and clear: "CHRISTWAS LOVE" And He still is.

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