Well, another Thanksgiving observance has come and gone, and I hope you had a wonderful time. As I mentioned in last week's column, I had the wondrous opportunity to spend a few days with my wonderful children & grandchildren, and blessings abounded. And now we can all look forward, you and I, to Christmas and the love and laughter we will once again have the opportunity to experience. One of my favorite movies of all time is "It's A Wonderful Life."

The message in this movie is timeless - it never grows old. It's all about love, hope and courage, as well as about despair and tribulation. As I have mentioned before, it seems appropriate that it is featured mainly during the Christmas season because it in many ways reflects the Christmas message about the importance of living life with faith and hope, even during times of tribulation. It helps us to recognize how important it is to enter this special season with positive thoughts and actions. Maybe someone has hurt or offended us. If so, let's strive to forgive that person, and realize that having negative thoughts about someone will just tend to make us more negative.

In my Seminars, especially during this time of the year, It has always been revealing to hear participants talk about mistakes of the past and their desire to make things better in the future. I am hoping to get some of these Seminars underway again this year and to emphasize how important it is for us to really LISTEN to the other person and to try to see things from the other person's point of view.

That doesn't mean we have to agree on everything - in fact, it has been said that when two people agree on everything, one of them is unnecessary - It just means that we can agree to disagree, and we can do so agreeably. So if we have the opportunity to spend some time with others during this upcoming Christmas Season, especially with family, let's vow to begin and end that time together with an expression of love.
An expression of love can be very disarming because it is difficult to be in a tug of war when one person let's go of the rope. Be that person!.

I think is is fitting to end this column today with this special Prayer: Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; Where there is injury, pardon; Where there is doubt, faith; Where there is despair, hope; Where there is darkness, light; Where there is sadness, joy; Help me to seek not so much to be consoled, as to console; To be understood, as to understand; To be loved, as to love. For it is giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is dying that we are born to ETERNAL LIFE.

Have a truly WONDROUS day!!