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Saint Nicholas Day 2023
Today is Saint Nicholas Day, so I hope you woke up to find some gold coins in your shoe.
‘Tis The Season
For it is in giving that we receive. ~Saint Francis of Assisi
One of the great things about the holiday season is that we can express our love for each other with acts and intentions of generosity.
That doesn’t only mean gift-giving. It can be as simple as sharing a smile and a kind word.
That’s what Ebeneezer Scrooge meant when he said he’d keep the spirit of the season in his heart all year long.
It’s hard to do. We get caught up in daily strife. Our heads fill up with static from all the random nonsense life throws us.
If we can just remember to hold a little Christmas cheer in our hearts, regardless of the season or date, the world might be a merrier place overall.
👛 OG Santa 🎅🏽
St. Nicholas of Myra (6 December)
Jolly Old Saint Nicholas was a member of the Roman Empire’s Patrician class. He was kind and generous, despite the tragedies that befell him.
Even so, he was not one to brook the foolishness of heretics. The early church had quite a few variations that had arisen across the empire.
The Council of Nicea was one of the meetings of early church fathers to devise a coherent, unified understanding of Christianity.
Despite their efforts, the difficulties of staying on the same page across thousands of miles in the centuries before instant communication led to several schisms.
Now that we do have instantaneous global communication, the schisms remain. Why? Because, who cares?
Religion is an expression of culture and history. Why do Catholics differ from Orthodox? Why do Baptists differ from Anabaptists? Why do Anglicans differ from Lutherans?
Because they do. That’s all. There are moments in history where certain theologians head up a revolution in concept or practice.
Different modes of worship speak to people in ways that comfort them either personally or as a matter of their heritage.
People who were brought up in a particular denomination will either take it to heart and remain or they will find it lacking and seek another.
Back in the day, that might be a death sentence. Now it’s a matter of choice.
Don’t like ritual and incense? Leave high church and join the Mennonites.
Is your church too plain? Catholics have stained glass and sculptures. Orthodox have icons and triptychs.
There’s a lid for every pot. Go to the church that feeds your soul, feels like family and brings you peace.
Don’t do anything that would get you slugged by the Bishop of Myra, but now is a great time of year to go shopping for a faith community if you don’t already have one.
🌄 The Joy Of Life ❣️
The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun. ~Christopher McCandless
One of the greatest things about writing speculative fiction is that you can experience endless adventure by exploring the basic question, “What If?“.
Not all of us can be Ernest Hemmingway. Actual adventures can be exhilarating but they can just as easily be the end of you.
There was a time when I could go on adventures without a second thought. I could pick up and go, no problem. That is no longer the case.
Also, the kind of adventures I might like to go on simply aren’t available. I can’t jump on a spaceship and go to another star system. I have no dungeons or castles to explore. I can’t snap on a cape and fly around a city in search of crimes to foil.
I’m old and tired. I have a box of pills that keep me alive. I plan my activities around the availability of a bathroom. My imagination is boundless, but my actual physical activities are quite limited.
Despite these limitations, imagination is boundless. The ability to explore boundless reaches of possibility on the page is my life’s blood.
I hope you’re enjoying Carol’s Christmas this year. I’ve enjoyed writing it. I’ve got so many ideas for Sentinels, Tales Of Olde Auringia and Far-Flung Reaches stories in the future.
That’s my frontier of adventure. IRL, I’m an overgrown hobbit with a bunch of medical conditions. I’m an introvert and happy to be so. Give me a sugar-free cookie and a cup of coffee and I’ll be just fine. Between my ears, I can go anywhere or anywhen without consequence or trepidation.
Some people don’t get that, but whatever. You do you. This is how I do me.
That’s it for Saint Nicholas 🎅🏽 Day this year. I hope you’re having a lovely holiday season week.