Merry Christmas

My Christmas card to you is a simple one, and it's not even original.

I had a great discussion this week with someone I thought I had lost from my life forever. Turns out, I hadn't, and we'll be renewing a very valuable and precious friendship -- we've known each other for 21 years. In fact, he was the officiating minister at my (first) wedding, as I married one of his closest childhood friends.

John, my re-found friend, is absoluely famous for asking the important questions in a very straightforward way. The question was prompted by the fact that we were having a really emotional evening anyway, complete with tears -- almost all of them joy-induced -- and I mentioned that December 31 would have been my 10th anniversary. So, we talked some about my former husband. And he asked, "What do you want for Mark?"

My first and instinctive answer was, "Consciousness."

He cracked me up by saying, "That would be a good start."

Then I told him that I have pretty much the same desire for all the people in my life. (Even those to which I was once married, and had consequently once wished might be hit by a bus.)

Which leads me to your Christmas card.

I wish for you a deep and abiding knowledge of the amazing extent to which you are a wonderfully and perfectly created, profoundly adored, stunningly beautiful person with infinite worth. I honestly pray that every interaction I have with you is one that will help you to understand how STELLAR you really are.

Before you go and think I'm altruistic or something, I readily confess that this desire, and my participation, however minor, in your life, is also quite selfish. Here is why: Because I LONG to make a significant contribution in the world, and I truly believe that the only way I can do so is to reach inside the life of another person -- an eternal soul -- and give something, I'm participating for my benefit, too. I get to fulfill my deep desire to touch the forever.

Thank you so much for letting me know you. Merry Christmas.