path this year felt quite …
bumpy … small steps can make a
world of difference

Of course, at the heart of the Christmas story lies the birth of a child: a seemingly small and insignificant step overlooked by many in Bethlehem. But in time, through his teaching and by his example, Jesus Christ would show the world how small steps taken in faith and in hope can overcome long-held differences and deep-seated divisions to bring harmony and understanding. Many of us already try to follow in his footsteps. The path, of course, is not always smooth, and may at times this year have felt quite bumpy, but small steps can make a world of difference.

As Christmas dawned, church congregations around the world joined in singing It Came Upon the Midnight Clear. Like many timeless carols, it speaks not just of the coming of Jesus Christ into a divided world, many years ago, but also of the relevance, even today, of the angels’ message of peace and goodwill.

It’s a timely reminder of what positive things can be achieved when people set aside past differences and come together in the spirit of friendship and reconciliation. And, as we all look forward to the start of a new decade, it’s worth remembering that it is often the small steps, not the giant leaps, that bring about the most lasting change.

From the Queen’s Christmas Speech, December 25, 2019.

It’s worth remembering that it is often the small steps, not the giant leaps, that bring about the most lasting change.

I like that.

I am reminded of Arlo Guthrie and the way he talked his way though his shows.

I remember a gentle reminisce of Mr. Guthrie’s as he sat has the keyboard at a concert from 1993 (Live at Wolftrap, August 8, 1993.) and he said this:

If the world was perfect and everybody had money, everybody drove BMWs or something, nobody was homeless, nobody ever got sick, everything was wonderful, everybody was smart and everyone was happy all the time you would have to go an awful long way out of your way to make a difference in this world.

You would have to do a whole hell of a lot to try and improve the way it was …

BUT IN WORLD THAT SUCKS …

Like this one …

You don’t have to do very much at all. There was never a time in the history of the world where you go do so little and get so much done.

That’s right.

You can do more with a little smile, just hold somebody, say hello to somebody or just feel good by yourself even when you don’t feel like feeling good.

As the Queen put it, “The path, of course, is not always smooth, and may at times this year have felt quite bumpy, but small steps can make a world of difference.“

for one night be a
brightly-lighted island of
happiness and peace

On December 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor was attacked.

The next day, the President went to Congress and asked for a declaration of war against the Empire of Japan and the United States was in a war with Great Britain against Japan and Japan alone.

The next day, for reasons no one understands to this day, Germany declared war on the United States.

The United States was now in a war with Great Britain against Japan and Germany.

Two weeks later, Winston Churchill was at the White House to meet with Franklin Roosevelt.

At dusk on Christmas Eve, The President lit the National Christmas tree on a live radio broadcast.

The President then turned the microphone over to Mr. Churhchill.

This is what he said.

I spend this anniversary and festival far from my country, far from my family, yet I cannot truthfully say that I feel far from home. Whether it be the ties of blood on my mother’s side, or the friendships I have developed here over many years of active life, or the commanding sentiment of comradeship in the common cause of great peoples who speak the same language, who kneel at the same altars and, to a very large extent, pursue the same ideals, I cannot feel myself a stranger here in the centre and at the summit of the United States. I feel a sense of unity and fraternal association which, added to the kindliness of your welcome, convinces me that I have a right to sit at your fireside and share your Christmas joys.

This is a strange Christmas Eve. Almost the whole world is locked in deadly struggle, and, with the most terrible weapons which science can devise, the nations advance upon each other. Ill would it be for us this Christmastide if we were not sure that no greed for the land or wealth of any other people, no vulgar ambition, no morbid lust for material gain at the expense of others, had led us to the field. Here, in the midst of war, raging and roaring over all the lands and seas, creeping nearer to our hearts and homes, here, amid all the tumult, we have tonight the peace of the spirit in each cottage home and in every generous heart. Therefore we may cast aside for this night at least the cares and dangers which beset us, and make for the children an evening of happiness in a world of storm. Here, then, for one night only, each home throughout the English-speaking world should be a brightly-lighted island of happiness and peace.

Let the children have their night of fun and laughter. Let the gifts of Father Christmas delight their play. Let us grown-ups share to the full in their unstinted pleasures before we turn again to the stern task and the formidable years that lie before us, resolved that, by our sacrifice and daring, these same children shall not be robbed of their inheritance or denied their right to live in a free and decent world.

And so, in God’s mercy, a happy Christmas to you all.

You can listen to it here …