I'm one of those people born right after Christmas. In my case, week 25 to December 31 has three celebratory dates, instead of two. Due to the attention of people with the year-end movement, I learned to spend this time in a special retreat, in profound life review.
Maybe that's why Christmas is more special to me than for a lot of people. I don't like sending trivial messages like, "just so they don't say I didn't." Whenever I write at this season I am in this process of personal reset, on the tip of the iceberg of reflections that happen within me, all very visceral.
That why dear family, friend, jobs or ministries’ partner, client, colleague, fan, (I found that I have fans! kkk), whatever category you belong in my life, my desire is that this time of celebration invites you to take a deep and loving dive into your own existence, recognizing The Emanuel - God with us - that dwells you. And in this dive, you are flooded by a deep gratitude, of those that moves you to the actions of generosity with others, but above all, with yourself.
In these my retreats, I have discovered that it is possible to be miserly in many ways and that being generous with myself is very difficult. It requires detachment from those pet guilt that haunts me in the feeling of defeat for not correspond to the expectations of the people who love me. It requires a well-matured awareness of having reached my own limits. It demands enormous emotional intelligence, the ones that teaches me how to distinguish when I procrastinated, when I could have given more of me or when I did much beyond what I should have. It requires a lot of inner healing andability to see others in a loving, merciful, and non-miserly way.
At Christmas we celebrate the Creator's ultimate expression of generosity for His creatures. So let's be generous! And that this generosity materializes in our attitudes and thoughts.
Merry Christmas and a 2023 marked by crossings of generosity in all directions.
A big and caring hug.
Lilia Marianno.
December 25, 2022.
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