Love is still the best foundation

Press, 31 December 1980, Page 11

Love is still the best foundation

Christmas has come. Christmas has gone. Those short weeks ' and even shorter days df bustle and hurry are over And everything really important had been, completed. No more tired faces now, from action packed' days and partying nights. Just why does everyone have to have a party at Christmas time? Think of the other times of the year there are great gaps when it wouid be such fun to go out and play. And on top of all the Christmas and holiday preparations, we have the added extra of li.'ing in the Southern Hemisphere. Our summertime gardens demand attention. Holidays need preparation. So we pansr between Christmas and the celebration of a New Year.

Nineteen eighty one. What will it bring to us? It is right not to be able to see into our futures. It is important to make the very most of today, to learn from yesterday and to prepare "oday for tomorrow. Let’s stop for a moment to consider the point of the feast we have celbrated. Are there any aspects of Chri-tmas we can retain throughout the year? Christmas and its , annual hurly burly celebrates what was originally a very simple occasion .... the birth of Jesus. He was not born to give us an excuse for spending sprees, parties and holidays. Not that I think he would disapprove ... as long as we understand the true and only meaning of ids birth. It was to bring to the world the greatest of his gifts, his gift of love for us. And this sift of love, hard as it is to define and often never completely understood, continues as the prime force in our lives. Whatever the new year, and the year and the years to come amount to,

By

BARBARA STEWART

the value of the meaning of Christmas should permeate through our lives. Yet at times we seem a curiously stupid lot, we homo sapiens We seem to be continually mis-manag-ing and mucking-up that greatest < * gifts, the gift of love. From babyl d to old age the response to love is the warmest we shall know. It totally affects the vitality of our lives. It has the highest, long-term importance in. all our motivations, its stimulation supseding all others. How we misuse, abuse and ignore it when the mood pleases us. The animals, birds, and fishes on this earth seem to know the answers better than us. As David Attenborough implied in the closing programme of his television series, “Life on Earth’: “Watch it, humans, you’re not as important as you think. Mess it all up and in the wings of the stage of life is an understudy just waiting for the role of star.’’ There are of course, many grades and degrees Of love. i Parent’s love for their children, who regardless of age have always their

children to worry, laugh and cry over. The love of children for their parents. Today's children have the burden of conflict placed on them through the great numbers of marriage breakdowns, divorce, and re-coupling of their parents. This means a continual splitting and dividing of love so that often it ends as guarded fear and loss of trust. So instead of a solid basis for the start of their young lives, they grow up on a quicksand base.

Then there is the love of families for their elderly, and the sadness of seeing the disintegration of a once vibrant mind and body. Husband’s love for wives. Wive’s love for husbands. Partner’s love for each other. It can be hard work. It can be painful work. It can be very happy work. It can develop and deepen, but it takes both persons for this to sincerely exist. Today’s values and morals would seem to threaten relationships as never before. As the Industrial Revolution changed the mid-1800’s, is the Egoistic Revolution changing the times in which we live. Whatever the outcome of present day trends, real and generous love is still our best foundation. Cousi'";r the spiritual love of God a which men and women throughout the world, and in all beliefs, are prepared to give up their personal lives for ad devote them to living and working for their chosen mission. Love can be the bodyracking passion for someone which becomes a complete physical entwinement as well as a mental and emotional commitment. On lesser, but still important, degrees' of this ability to love is a person’s love f-r their career, their sport, their ’ hobbies, their animals, and their possessions.

Over and over again love is the fuel of our lives. “Love thy neighbour,” is the commandemnt. You could well feel thorough dislike for your neighbour. One part of love is the art of communication. Positive communication with all the gifts at our inidividual disposal. In our daily and sometimes impersonal contacts, we can . ractice this art of positive communication and dismiss the negative. Every person we have contact with each day is worthy of polite, i f not friendly communication. The bus driver, lift attend* ant, receptionist, tea lady, fellow factory worker, school teacher, shop attendant, butcher, baker, It takes practice, and sometimes we don’t feel like it at all. Remember that your bad mood of the day is not their fault, it comes from inside you. Kindness and good manners are a part of love. We must try not to let familiarity take the edge from these considerations. So often it is your most loved who get the tatty remains of you, whereas you’d never abuse a stranger in such a way. Listen, notice, compliment and encourage . . . what wonders that does to the recipient’s spirit and morale. There seems to be so much individual loss, confusion and unhappiness in today’s world. Family units are split, individuals are self seeking, communities are impersonal. The same trends are apparent in the broader picture of international communications.

Is this because we have forgotten that surnassing all other needs is the need o f love. The need that was Christmas, and the gift that is Christmas every year. Recognise and understand this gift, treasure it, keep 1 it safe and nurture it — all'year long. Happy New Year.