This is a horribile way to start a blog entry about Christmas, but right now I’m going through a terrible, ugly, painful divorce. Despite my pleas and prayers for a peaceful parting of ways, this promises to drag on and on with a lot of hurt feelings and anguish. I am frustrated with the situation because so much of it is based on bad information and incorrect assumptions. So, to my mind, all of the drama and pain and everything is . . . well, unnecessary.
So I get mad at the situation. I’ve gotten good at getting over it, but this holiday season, it’s tough. I’m dreaming of opening gifts with my daughter and a loving wife on Christmas morning, then making breakfast for them and spending time with both families. I got to spend time with my daughter, which was good. But I got mad at the situation because we really didn’t have to go through all this. Then I got mad at myself, for allowing myself to stay angry about the situation on what was an otherwise wonderful Christmas day.
So leave it to my 2-year-old to put things in perspective with a few choice words, enthusiastically said in a pre-bedtime phone call: “I love you, daddeee!”
My daughter loves me. I’m pretty sure she means it.
Just because “A Message From God” came through these fingers, don’t think for a second that I’m above brooding and dwelling on my troubles or stewing in my frustrations. Any of us can get stuck focusing on the negative. I was so stuck in fact, that I almost missed that divine message I was getting in that short little statement from my daughter, who’s still learning to talk: “I love you, daddee!!”
The lesson and the challenge to me was clear: Focus on love.
With so much bad news coming down the pipe — economy, unemployment, the environment, let alone personal problems — it’s easy to give all our attention to what brings us down. Instead, focus on love. Not just this holiday season, but every day. Not for anyone else’s sake, but for your own.
And to my little girl: “I love you back, bay-beee!”