That Time of Year…

The holidays don't mean the same as they used to.

Maybe that's because I have so much more of a past nowadays. And there is so much living to do in the present… every day an adventure.

Never mind the future.

I recall as a teenager, sitting and drawing pictures of what I thought was a perfect room to be in. What I, as an adult, would be ideal of what I would want.

Bookcases lining the walls: A leather chair and ottoman, couch, desk and oriental rug.

Of course, in the corner of that same room, a grand piano, black and gleaming-the classic musician's dream. And back then also, wood-paneled walls.

So 1960's, huh?

But that was the time of my coming of age.

Big dreams, big hopes and a future lying ahead like a yellow-brick road.

So that, if I spent all my time reflecting on it, that would be all I would do during Thanksgiving and Christmas.

But, don't get me wrong.

I have a lot to be thankful for. Too much to possibly go into here. Even things that I'm sure I took for granted growing up: Like a supportive and loving family.

I recall that we were not well off, by any means.

Didn't go out to fancy restaurants or see recently-released movies. No night out on the town or week-long holidays.

We saw our grandparents once in a while.

That was our family's idea of time off.

We travelled in the family car past Arkansas farmlands and small towns to see our relatives for a day or two on weekends. Not much scenery along the way, except for tenant house, tractors and acres and acres of acres and acres, as they say.

Back then, we didn't have the nice fourlane state highways to get there either.

Nope. It was two-lane all the way, No

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‘Wordaholic’

By Robert L. Hall ROBERT HALL (cont.)

snoozing on dad's part, or we would have wound up in the ditch. Plenty of “Are We There Yet?” moments with my sister and I whining hourly and squirming around in the back seat.

But that was then.

This is now.

Now, I have enjoyed the privilege of living in the greatest country in the world, getting an education, employed in jobs — some of which I really enjoyed and felt them fulfilling and worth the effort — as well as marriage, friend-finding and finally, a deep appreciation of the Creator.

And with that comes contentment.

Not that there is nothing left to do, I am finding out. So much left undone.

Or as the British say, “That which is undone, needs to be done up.”

As true as anything else you hear out there.

Then, there's Christmas.

It seems that Christmas gifts and gift-giving aren't the same either these days.

Not that either of us are in need, nor that we want a gift.

Gifts just mean you care.

Anyway, life has given so much already.

It really begs the question.

How do you improve upon God's plan for your life?

Yet, there is a mandate to improve. We are not called to be served, but to serve, as scripture says. No matter what age. No matter the circumstance. In that way, Christmas is a perfect picture: Jesus was born.

He gave his all for us.

Then he performed the ultimate

humankind.

Shouldn't we give and share with others as well… if only in lesser ways?

And I enjoy that part.

Always learning, always

friends and also of strangers.

Don't recall any mandates for “time-outs” in my Bible.

Who knows?

Maybe that's only in the King James Version.

No; instead we should follow the imperative of the poet, Robert Herrick, who in 1648, urged us to make much of time, penning: “Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, Old Time is still aflying…” Yet, not for vain fame or fleeting fortune, but for ourselves and our own selffulfillment.

And don't put it off for another time or another place, feeling yourself inferior to others. For it is a great mystery how people love themselves more than any other person on the planet, yet consider the opinion of others to be more important than their own.

For, Christmas is coming soon.

And other people are in need for you to gift yourself to them, in one way or the other.

They need it, and you deserve it.

Robert L. Hall is a resident of Marion and has a Bachelor’s Degree in music from the University of Memphis and a Master’s Degree from Florida State University. He is the pianist for Avondale Baptist Church and a writer of fiction on Amazon eBooks.