Day 229
Most of the time, I'm not a Scrooge. I do my best to be generous with my time as much as my money. For this week though, this last full week before Christmas, I'm going to explore some of the ways I am a Scrooge.
Mr. Scrooge's kind young assistant, Bob Cratchit, asks for Christmas off, and though he's granted this wish, he's also ordered to come in early the next day. Now I'm a hard worker, and I expect hard work from my employees or colleagues when I'm put in charge. I often demand too much of them, and I grow far too serious far too quickly when they are relaxing too much on the job. I have trouble fully relaxing until the job is done.
Old Ebenezer Scrooge gives nothing to charity. I often feel as though I don't give as much as I could, and wonder if I keep too much for myself. Andy reminds me how poor I am at saving money, and how quickly what little I do save could be gone in an emergency, but I still can't shake the fact that I might sometimes do more than I already do.
But Scrooge is known for more than just his stinginess, and his stringent work ethics. It's his relationships, or lack thereof, that really pull on our heartstrings. He turns his back on his own nephew, and derides him and others for wanting to celebrate the holidays--or any day at all--in such a cruel, miserable world. How do I do this? Well, I'll explore this more later in the week, but for now I'll just say, I do often make myself an outsider more than I should. I see a gathering, even one I'm at, and though I'm included, I too often feel apart from it all too. I don't know if it still stems from my years away from the family when I was a monk, but I need to work on this, and I plan to in the future. For now, it's something I continue to stew on with deep consideration.
Charles Dickens was only 31 when he wrote the story of Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, but he was already well aware of the trappings of life, the miseries felt so keenly by so many poor people of his time, and the overwhelming need for inspiration, especially at Christmas. As I go through the next few days, I hope and pray to follow in his Dickensian footsteps, by learning about old Ebenezer through his eyes. Because if you stop to think about it, that's where we find our hearts lifted most, when we seek not just to inspire, but to fully respect the feelings of those in most need of our inspiration.
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