This is the season of love

Religious Views, by Delisa Renideo

The day after Thanksgiving is the official kick-off day for "The Holidays," that season so often characterized by frantic shopping, mounds of presents to wrap, baking, parties, cards to write, long lines at the post office, and going into debt to buy presents. We may not want to get hooked into the consumer frenzy, but we may feel powerless to resist the expectations of others and our own inner call to follow tradition.

There is another way to experience this season. It begins with Thanksgiving, a time to focus gratefully on all the good in our lives. From there we move into Christmas, the Season of Love. The holiday season then ends with a celebration of the New Year, a time when we consciously choose to let go of the past and greet the next year with intention, optimism, and the commitment to live from our highest and best.

Of course, we celebrate Christmas because of the birth of Jesus into the world. We celebrate not only His physical presence on earth, but His wonderful, life-transforming teachings. The greatest teachings of Jesus had to do with love. He told us to love God with all our heart, mind, and soul, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. He taught us to love our enemies. He taught us to do unto others as we would have them do unto us. He taught us that it is more important to follow the spirit of the law than the letter of the law. And the greatest law is the law of love.

If we were to keep Jesusâ teaching and example in mind this holiday season, we would focus on the love we have for God as the Source of all and on our love for everyone else. This includes our family, our friends, and our "enemies" And let's not forget ourselves! God is within each of us and within everyone else. This leads to a true love -- the "namaste" kind of love that recognizes that the same divine presence within me is also within you.

How would our holiday season change if we kept love in mind? Presents are supposed to represent the love we feel for others, but they can so easily become an obligation, a burden, and a source of resentment. Where is the love in that? Cards are supposed to let people know we are thinking about them, and that we care. But sending preprinted cards to an ever-growing list of everyone we have ever met becomes a chore. Where is the love in that? If we are to love ourselves as well, what is loving about starting the new year hundreds of dollars in debt and 5 more pounds overweight?

What kinds of actions can we take that really help us to feel the love within us, and to express this love to others? What will increase our feelings of appreciation for life and for each other? We have an inner gauge to let us know how we are doing. Are we feel increasingly joyful and loving, or are we getting irritated, frustrated, and exhausted?

In many aspects of life, less is more. Instead of sending 100 preprinted cards, we might write 20 personal, heartfelt letters telling others what they mean to us. Instead of spending a lot on presents, we might find a creative way to give something we have made ourselves that expresses something special. Few of us in our culture need more "stuff" but we can all benefit tremendously by giving and receiving more genuine love.

This year, let's dare to break free of social expectations and traditions and immerse ourselves in the Season of Love.

Delisa Renideo is the spiritual leader of Unity Church of the Valley and can be reached at 373-1526.