Honoring Christmas
When we acknowledge our unique place in the world…
we have the opportunity to set off a ripple effect that emerges
and sets sail in directions we cannot anticipate.
-The Miracle Collectors
December 10, 2023
As we begin our bustle through the holidays, it’s always good to stop and remember the gifts of Christmas you can’t wrap up and tie with a bow: being with loved ones to celebrate, sending up prayers for peace on earth, or extending a kindness to someone who could use your presence or help. We may never know how far the ripple effect on the lives we touch may go, as Katie writes about in this month’s newsletter. May the peace and joy of Christmas wrap you in a warm embrace.
Collecting Miracle Moments One Story at a Time.
Joan and Katie
We are all familiar with Dickens’ A Christmas Carol where Ebenezer Scrooge finds his humanity and soul in the nick of time. He sees the world as if for the first time as he wakes up after a night of terror to find he has not missed Christmas, thanks to the shenanigans of some well-placed ghosts and his own ability to rise above the gigantic chip on his shoulder. From a bastion of misery and bitterness to an exuberance and profound appreciation for life, his transformation is miraculous. But it is in the ripple effect of that transformation, the restored dignity to Bob Cratchit and health to Tiny Tim, not to mention the boon to his community, that the real miracle begins to unfold. Of course, Scrooge required the assistance of three powerful ghosts, but even seemingly small acts of kindness can create impressive waves of grace.
I read a story a few years ago about a fifteen-year-old boy who is intent on ending his life as he teeters on the railing of a cold, deserted overpass bridge late one night. A man on his way to his overnight shift at a facility for at-risk youth sees him and stops. Though not a trained professional, seeing the boy on the icy ledge, he has to do something, and he strikes up a conversation, trying to keep the boy connected. Eventually, the boy becomes aware of the lights of emergency vehicles and the crowd that has formed. When one person in the crowd yells, “Jump, you coward!” it is the final push the boy needs. Meanwhile, the man who has continued their conversation has been inching closer and closer so that when the boy lets go of the railing and falls forward, he is able to grab him around his chest and pulls him back over the railing. The boy begins the long road to dealing with his mental health issues, all the while thinking about the man in “the light brown jacket,” the only identifier of his savior that he can recall.
For years, Mike Richey, the man who first stopped to help, was tormented by not knowing what happened to the boy. Then in 2016, thirteen years after the night on the bridge, a friend forwarded a TEDx Talk by Mark Henick, an expert on childhood development, mental health first aid, and suicide intervention. In the talk, Mark tells the story of a fateful night thirteen years before when a man in a light brown jacket saved his life. For years Mark had searched for the man who rescued him, beginning to wonder if he was even real. The two men were eventually reunited, and Mark recalled that what Mike did that night was “a master class in how to help somebody.” Human to human, someone made him feel seen. Not unlike the fictional Scrooge, Mark has made a difference in an untold number of lives, and they in turn will make a difference, all thanks to one man stopping to see if he could help.
In a world where we battle large forces of evil and small voices of cruelty, it seems like anyone who can, should set off their own ripples of goodness in the hope that when added together, the forces of hate are ultimately defeated. In the Jewish faith they call it tikkun olam, which is described as any activity that improves the world, like paying-it-forward in today’s vernacular. For we miracle collectors, these acts of kindness are ripples of grace that can go on in perpetuity. Perhaps Scrooge said it simplest and best, “I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all year." (Katie)