Too Busy For Love

On Saturday, my husband and I were out shopping in between a movie and dinner plans.  We were in the store just picking up a couple of last minute things.  The store was very busy as you would expect.

As we were standing at the register to check out, we were talking about different things.  What else we needed to get.  What we were doing the rest of the holiday.  Not paying much attention to anything as we waited in line.  As we got to the check out, I noticed for one brief second a store employee taking away a cart that was in front of us.  It had supplies for Christmas dinner, a turkey and all that goes with it.  I didn't see a customer with it.  My husband said that there might have been some problem with the person's card.

In that moment, I was struck by several things.  One was that I realized that I was so caught up in my own plans and self that I didn't even notice that this person had an issue in front of us.  I had become so caught up in the trappings of Christmas that I was too busy to see something that Christmas is really all about.  The second thing was that we should pay for this person's groceries because THIS is what Christmas is about.  Love, sharing, caring for others, giving of yourself and your time and your money so that someone else feels loved.  By the time both of these things sunk in, the cart was gone, the person was no where to be seen and I was left feeling like I had missed an opportunity to share the real meaning of Christmas.

Too often, and not just at Christmas time, we get caught up in our own lives and business and forget that our greatest calling in this life is to share love with others.  To share that love with ALL others.  It is because we, as a people, have stopped sharing love that our society is in such chaos.  We are too busy.  We are too selfish. We only want to love those who are like us or those who we feel deserve it.  We exclude some from love because they are different.  Because they don't look like us, believe like us, live like us.

The true meaning of Christmas is that love is for ALL.  Perhaps if we all were to stop living our own lives for just a few minutes and found a way to love others, this world would be a completely different place.  We can't wait for someone else to do it.  We must do it within ourselves.  I do it, you do it, someone else does it and soon everyone is doing it.  It will change not only someone else's life but your own as well.

Take the time so that we are never too busy for love.