Silver Bells
“City side walks, busy sidewalks dressed in holiday style, in the air there’s a feeling of Christmas. Children laughing, people passing this is Santa’s big scene and above all this hustle you hear. Silver Bells… Soon it will be Christmas Day.”
Certainly most of you happy readers are familiar with that old Christmas carol, “Silver Bells”. But now, Christmas has passed, and children are still laughing, people are still passing (after Christmas sales you know and gotta walk off the Christmas cookies!), but this is no longer Santa’s big scene. His sleigh is parked for the next 364 days.
It is my hope that you are looking forward to a new year with great expectancy. And what that expectancy looks like is certainly in your hands. 2021 was a tough year for many of us. The roller coaster that is COVID seemed to fill all corners of our lives: TV, radio, internet, billboards, signs in the grocery store and store fronts. Sometimes those snappy tunes stores play were interrupted to inform you, in case you lived in a cave for the past year, that COVID is here and for sure “let’s do our part!”. And while hand washing is most definitely important, hand wringing is not. Nor is fear. Nor is shaming.
And this column is not about COVID, per se. But it IS about the New Year and COVID will be in it. For how long, only the good Lord knows. We do know that we have a brand new year coming up and we get to do brand new things. So…. let’s do them.
Instead of making the standard new year’s resolution, how about we all get a bit more introspective? Instead of vowing to lose weight or eat healthier or get organized or clean out that closet (well, maybe that last one should stay...) How about we look at being kind? That we remind ourselves that we live in a great nation and serve a great God and fat or thin, salad or pizza, messy closet or no, we only get one life on this earth- how about we use it to live it in a way that counts?
How about when we do clean out that closet and we look at that 20 year old dress going into the donation pile, we don’t say “if I were homeless/poor/ without a job I’d be happy to have that” and instead say “I think I’ll give up my weekly overpriced coffee and when I have enough money I’ll buy a new dress because if I were homeless/ poor/without a job I’d like to look like everyone else.” How about when you buy groceries for a local food pantry, you buy the best that you can? You buy what your family buys and eats. How about we take on a spirit of purpose?
Let our resolutions be thoughtful. Let them be full of gratitude and resolute. Let’s look at 2022 and say YES! Yes to spending time with loved ones. Yes to taking walks and enjoying that we live in a lovely small town with great people. Yes to children laughing and people passing. It’s not Santa’s scene now, it’s ours and we are going to own this coming year.
Here’s to those who always welcome you in. Here’s to those with wagging tails and bright eyes that love unconditionally. Here’s to jeans that fade and dreams that don’t. Here’s to a 2022 resolution filled with hope, fortitude and love. We are in this together, we will not be divided and maybe that closet can just stay a mess because 2022 is here and I’m not missing out on a minute of it running to the Container Store for totes and colored markers and bins. I am loving my fellow man. I am waving at them when I see them. I am smiling at strangers. I am committed to being a light when others would say it is dark. I am committed to raising hands in praise, not wringing in fear. I am fighting for all that is good and just in this world in little ways.
As I close, with this one gal’s opinion, I am reminded of a Quaker poem. Read this carefully, slowly, with expectancy. And when you are on that city sidewalk and it’s busy and children are laughing, set aside the bustle because soon it will be 2022. And 2022 is our big scene. Make it a good one.
When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and the princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry, To release the prisoner,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among brothers,
To make music in the heart.
Becky Lay is the Chairman of the Bandera County Republican Party Election Integrity Committee.