Yardsticks

On this Sunday morning, just turned that day now, and before we trot off to sleep, with visions of sugar plums dancing, the stockings washed and folded, we in our "kerchief" and cap,  and no clatter yet out on the front lawn...this time... a week out...

With all the plastic commercialism that bombards us and that we decry, there are things true and beautiful in this time. That sincere smile of greeting, kids laughing and eyes twinkling, a held door or coat or chair, a helping hand and just that casual nod of greeting.  Nice things.

We all need to (and we won't preach another word - promise) have a yardstick or two in our lives against which we measure how we are acting. If we select something of near transcendental beauty or peacefulness, calmness or even a spoonful of melancholic introspection; against that yardstick we can see how other things measure up.  If we don't have that one standard, well, it's a yardstick with no inches.

So in this little period before the reindeer land on the rooftop, it won't hurt to reassess our yardsticks - to see if our "nice" measures up, if we go to the right length to be considerate, if we inch our way to a more  courteous way of thinking - simply if we have a grip on those things that are the best and we appreciate most and then hold ourselves to that end.

Night.