“A good conscience is a continual Christmas.”
(Benjamin Franklin)

For those who celebrate, will your kids get everything they want for Christmas tomorrow? I sincerely hope so. I hope you were so blessed this year that you’re able to give them all they could possibly wish for.

I also hope and pray you get everything you want as well, but I’m guessing that what you want most is not available on Amazon. No, what you want most is probably that most elusive of holiday gifts: peace of home, and peace of heart.

Most elusive, and if we’re honest, most expensive. Why? Because the peace we seek, both among our family members and within ourselves, costs us some possessions we usually cling to like oxygen:

-fears of being hurt again
-efforts to be perfect
-petty annoyances
-grudges, and legitimate causes for holding them
-resentments about having to be the first one to apologize or forgive
-the right to do as we please, even if it goes against our stated values, without experiencing any side effects of such duplicity.

Yes, peace within our own walls and our own hearts is expensive. That’s why it’s so elusive.

But don’t you remember that one time, when you calmly chose to do exactly what your conscience was telling you to do, even though it was initially uncomfortable?

I bet it felt like Christmas.

Have a merry one tomorrow. I won’t be sending you an eQuip, because heaven knows you’ve got better things to do than read an email from me. Talk to you on Monday.