Open Your Hearts' Door
We all spend a lot of time “opening doors” throughout the calendar year. But it seems to me that the one door that is boarded shut for much of the year is the door to our hearts. During this Christmas season our corporate family would like to pause and remember that our customers are made up of flesh and blood families too. And each of us has heart connections that link and bind us all into one big human family.
Boom & Bust
These are financially challenging times in Alberta. And as the economy cycles through boom and bust, the poor and the homeless and the disadvantaged are always amongst us. We need to bear in mind that the overwhelming generosity that flows during the Christmas season can dry up so very quickly after the tinsel comes off the tree and the gift wrapping is carried out to the curb.
Being a business owner and entrepreneur and a garage door service technician for the better part of thirty years, I’ve driven down nearly every winding street and every narrow alleyway in this great City of Calgary. And whether crude oil is selling for $100 or $35 dollars a barrel, I see precious “human castaways” everywhere—diving into dumpsters and rummaging through garbage bins in search of anything of value. It’s so easy to press the accelerator and look away.
Ebenezer Scrooge
I am reminded of the immortal words of Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol:
“Business!” cried the Ghost of Marley, wringing his hands again. “Mankind is my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence were all my business.”
Each of us has heart connections that link and bind us to every precious human castaway.
Our new federal government has pledged to bring 10,000 Syrian refugees to Canada by years end. This is a huge challenge for every Canadian. Agree or disagree–its happening. It will be expensive and difficult, and of course comes with risk. But put aside the politics and quell irrational fear; and still you might be questioning, when we have so many poor and homeless and hungry right here in our own streets and alleyways–why should we be taking in the world’s needy?
One possible answer might be that two-thousand years ago, there was another displaced Middle Eastern family seeking refuge.
Christmas Every Day
Let’s all pledge together that in the coming calendar year, we will all open our heart’s door, and commit random Works of Mercy:
- Feed the hungry
- Give drink to the thirsty
- Clothe the naked
- Shelter the homeless
- Visit the sick
- Visit the imprisoned
- Bury the dead
From our family to yours, a very merry Christmas to all!