My Christmas Prayer:

This Christmas, I wish people would reflect on their actions, and whether they are truly suited to souls of divine origin.

If we are beings of light, born from light, and capable of returning to the light, then we should live in the light too. If everyone traded in their material goods for spiritual goods, how much lighter we could be!

How carefree we could all be if, while we enjoyed our own food and warmth, we knew no one else in the world was suffering from hunger or cold.

I pray that the people of the third world trade in their bestial habits of promiscuity, and the first world trades in their meaningless amassing of affluence, and we can make sure that no one, no being of light, meant to live for light, is born into suffering, who lives only to suffer and die.

I want people who fall in love to stay in love, and not be distracted by material things. Degrees, jobs, promotions, wealth, status, they are all dust in the end. We are born possessing everything we need except each other's love. Therefore love is the one thing we can never trade for anything else. It is more precious than oceans of gold. If pursuing material goods creates time and distance between lovers, if it creates uncertainty about the future, if it creates avoidable barriers and conflicts, who does this help? Love is so terribly, terribly fragile. Life isn't fragile though. Life is easy. Even animals, even bugs, even plants can live. Therefore, why are you accumulating power, security, status, whatever tools you think necessary to ensure your life, but leaving love to fend for itself? Love is a butterfly in the wind. Love is a shimmering mirage in a waterless sand. Love is one wrong word, one wrong touch, one mistake away from dying, every breath, every day. Life can take care of itself. Love can't. If anything is making love harder, throw it away. If anything makes love easier, hold it close.

I wish people would no longer shame themselves with the filth of this world. In their hearts, they know what they're doing is shameful, that their souls were made for better things. So why don't they listen to their hearts before they go out and intentionally poison and ruin themselves? The alcohol, the drugs, the fattening foods, the adulterous sex, why can't they stop, remember that once they were still innocent and free, and had true wishes of the heart about who they would someday become? Was it to throw up on the streets our parents raised us all those years? Was it to stab ourselves with needles our siblings protected and played with us? Was it to grow into sickening immobile blobs we were born amid mountains, oceans, sky and grass, with strong arms and fast legs? Why did God give us so many beautiful things if all we were supposed to do is hallucinate on acid? Why did he make our bodies, our eyes, our hair, our figures, our voices, so beautiful if he wanted us to pierce, dye, cut, tan, and tattoo it?

Everyone knows why we are here. We are here to behold the brightness of being, to feel the joy of life. We are here to shine. We are light. The light of beauty, the light of truth, the light of love. To drink in the light of God's creation, starting with his distant stars and ending with the souls of our closest beloved, and give back as much light as we can. Why give? Because we love the universe and want to make it shine. Because we love someone and want to feel closer to them, by entering their souls. If we don't project ourselves, how can we ever reach someone else? Because we want to live forever, but our light can't be sustained by the same body for long, so it must start over and over, forever, the torch of the last fire becoming the brand of the next, as far as the eye can see. Because we have souls of light, and the nature of light is to shine, to burst outwards in all directions freely, gaily, triumphantly.

It is a mistake to think drugs and smoking and obesity and cheating and drinking are all okay so long as you can still pass college and get a high paying job. Anyone can live. Anything can gather enough material supports that it maintains its existence. It's a mistake to think that if you do anything you want and still marry and have kids, it's okay. Anything can reproduce. Anything can rear its young. What can you do that not just anything can't? You can conceive of higher things. Therefore, if you do not live for higher things, there is nothing to be proud of. You were given a divine vessel and you maintained a vessel of clay. You took an urn of gold and returned to God as an urn of lead, and smile waiting for praise? If God wanted more ants he would have made more ants. Unlike ants, we are creatures of spirit. Let's be proud of our spirits.

I wish people knew their limits, and avoided temptation. I wish we accepted our weaknesses, and lived in a way such that our weaknesses never revealed themselves. Failure to do so hurts everyone. It destroys trust. It destroys respect. It destroys happiness. Therefore, do whatever it takes not to fail in someone's trust, respect, or happiness in you. Don't risk someone's trust, respect, or happiness for anything less than the value of that person's trust, respect, or happiness. Ask yourself, if they knew how little you valued their trust, respect, or happiness, if they knew you were risking everything for whatever petty end you have in mind, would they be hurt? Would they feel deeply hurt? Then don't risk it. Don't risk even a 1% chance of losing it. Don't risk hanging out with a 'friend' that you know you'd never do anything with. Don't risk drinking because you're 'always in control.' Don't risk lying because 'my lover would overreact and treat me unfairly.' Just stop. It is better to lose your arms and your legs than the trust, respect, and the happiness you give another. Before you ever say anything to the one you love, ask yourself if this has a 1% chance of hurting them so much they have to hide their souls from you so you can't hurt them again. If there's even a 1% chance, do anything but say those words.

There are worlds so pure that we feel blessed to even visit them. Souls so perfect we can only imagine a dim outline of what they'd feel and say. They are better company than drugs, alcohol, and sex. They are better company than wealth, power, riches, fame, or popularity. The purity of your spirit is your ticket to the trust, respect, and happiness of the pure of spirit. Their smiles are a thousand times as beautiful as anyone else's smiles. Knowing you made them smile is a thousand times as thrilling as knowing you made anyone else smile. You have not seen beauty or known love until you have seen their beauty and felt their love. I wish people didn't stop at the first distraction, the first snare, and continued on their pilgrim's progress to the very end. We were given a long life so we could embark on a long journey. We weren't born to end at the beginning, content with the first chemical that fries our brain. The higher our spirits climb, the more we can see. I wish people would abandon all the sins weighing them down and come see the true value and beauty behind all things. God is just a little higher. God is just a little further. I wish we could become God's children once again.