“You”

I received a note early today from my mentor and editor, Ron White, from his breathtaking retirement log cabin in North Carolina. It seems I had misspelled words in several spots in yesterday’s story about the Democrat Party and racism. I had an excuse — no, TWO excuses! I use the software program Grammarly to spellcheck my writings. I recently segued my writing to an iPad and yet have not downloaded Grammarly to my iPad. My “other” excuse is I’m lying in a hospital bed, I wrote later than normal yesterday because I couldn’t sleep, (I’m in a hospital bed) and I was writing in  the dark.

I’m not looking for pity: it’s a heart catheritization. After a mild heart attack 2.5 years ago, my doctor just wants to make sure everything’s OK. He in yesterday’s procedure found a glitch…or two, and is installing a couple of stints in small arteries today.

Enough about that. I’ve something important to share, and it’s personal:

It’s Christmas month. That and being a 65-year-old heart patient about to have a cardiovascular surgeon and a couple of his assistants in my chest gives pause to this old man. I’m thinking. And I’m dangerous when I’m thinking. I’ve got to put a few things right and a few others in proper perspective.

I don’t say “Thank you” enough. And I feel stupid in retrospect that I haven’t. It’s not because I’m not thankful, rather that I just haven’t taken the time to do so. TruthNewsNet is a “new” home to me with many old friends and many new friends joining in this venture. I may have said a benign “Thanks” a time or two. But it is incumbent upon me to share how I really feel.

YOU are an amazing gift to me for which I have done nothing to deserve. Even though nothing about any of this is really about me, (other than sharing with you what I think and how I feel) it’s about sharing with you. And you have chosen to share a part of your life with me and TruthNewsNet. Please accept my deep heartfelt thanks for your commitment and gift of time and support. You do not have to do so — you choose to do so. Thank you.

What’s really incredible is how so many of you look-in, not because you agree with or support all of what you see and hear, but because you simply want to know what is happening in our world from someone else’s vantage. You’ll surely agree, I’m sure, you get that “other” vantage here!

There are many much smarter and better educated than me about the facts of operations in our nation and the “what’s” and “why’s” of the U.S. Government. It’s a journey for me to get to the point of really seeing, hearing, and understanding all of those things. And I am in awe that you have joined me on this trip.

This time is a universal window for all to share gratitude with others: friends, family, co-workers, extended family members, and those much less fortunate than us. It’s a time of giving and being a gift.

For many, however, Christmas is a season of heartache, bad or sad memories of people we’ve lost, horrible personal experiences, and often regret for poor choices.

I encourage each of you to once each day this month, find one person in your life and give something to them. I’m not speaking of money or anything necessarily tangible. Speak “into” their life, each and everyone.

I know you are busy, especially this month. But we should never be too busy or too distracted with the important yet often too consuming circumstances we face to give something of ourselves to someone else. I guarantee from multiple personal experiences your doing so will not only change them, it will change you. And who among us cannot afford to change a little and change for the better.

By the way: tell your children today how much you love them. Not just, “I love you.” That’s important and priceless. But saying to your daughter or son, “I love you more than you’ll ever know and am really proud of you,” will almost always blow their minds. Try it. Hey, try it on your spouse, too.

Most importantly, before you head hits your pillow tonight, thank our Creator for your breath, your health, your spouse and family, for freedom and the opportunity to live in the freest country on Earth. Thank him for his Son and His gift to the World.

As I had just started this writing today, a sweet little lady walked into my room and introduced herself as Mary, the hospital chaplain. We shared pleasantries. And as hospital chaplains always do, she prodded me for details of my “visit.” And then she shocked me: she asked me to pray with her and asked me to pray. So I did.

Here’s the context of my prayer: “Lord, I thank you for giving Mary to those gravely ill in this facility to share their grief, pain, and fear, but to also share the peace and hope that comes in a relationship with you. I pray you will consume her with a new joy that will bubble over to everyone she meets today. Allow her to be YOUR messenger of this word to all of those she visits with, ‘The Best is Yet to Come.’”

I pray that same prayer for you today with this one thought: Don’t let where you are today determine WHO you are. It’s only one stop on WHERE you’re going. You’ll be WHO you are WHEREVER you end up.