If I’m not careful, this holiday season comes and goes in the blink of an eye. We’re sitting around the table for Thanksgiving, and then, before you know it, we’re ringing out the wild bells into the new year. Of course, there have been years where we celebrated this season properly; others, not so much. We were so absorbed with other things (mainly work) that Christmas came and went without its proper due.
Celebration, gratitude, and presence – require deliberate effort.
Deciding to put up decorations sooner than later and taking your time to hang ornaments with A Charlie Brown Christmas in the background.
Deciding to go to a Christmas concert or see a nativity exhibit.
Deciding to pull out the Christmas carols and play through them on the piano, inviting people over for Christmas cookies and caroling.
Deciding, because I am a Christian, to remember why we celebrate Christmas in the first place.
Deciding to live life at a different pace when this season comes, disrupting our routines and disrupting ourselves as a result.
All this to say, I’ve been taken with this expression – “Be Someone’s Angel.”
This idea of a guardian angel is an expression we use frequently, and one that I am thinking about more than usual as we sing Christmas carols like “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” or “Angels We Have Heard on High ” or when we sit down to watch the classic holiday movie “It’s a Wonderful Life”—with Clarence, the angel, hoping to get his wings by saving George Bailey’s life.
But how? How do we make this expression come alive?
Well, here’s my plan, and you may want to do it too.
Twice a week, use this kindness randomizer, write down the task it gives you, and do it. I love the randomizer because it eliminates the analysis paralysis of how I celebrate this season.
Using it as I write this newsletter, here are my two ways to be someone’s angel this week.
Deliver hot chocolate to someone in the hotel lobby tomorrow morning.
Ask advice from a teenager first thing in the morning –– or as soon as I see one.
A useful website, intentional practice, and the smile on someone’s face – that’s how you and I can be a guardian angel.
One of my favorite quotes (and yes, I have a lot of favorite quotes!) is, ‘God does notice us, and he watches over us. But it is usually through another person that he meets our needs.’ –– Spencer W. Kimball
But, now I’ll leave you with this:
Who are your guardian angels? It might be a longer list than you initially thought.
Because the thing about folks like Clarence, the angel, and their presence in our lives. They often watch over you without you knowing it. They operate on a level of kindness that you can take for granted. It’s easy to overlook our guardian angels, to not consciously realize and appreciate that for those angels, you are their special someone, whom they watch over tirelessly.
So, as we move into this season, who can you watch over – and who’s watching over you?
All My Best,
Whitney
