New Year Resolutions

I think one of the best gifts parents (and grandparents) can give their children is a belief in themselves and that they are ‘good enough’. So many problems arise for us all in later life if we are insecure inside, and somehow feel that we are not living up to a particular standard set before us by parents/teachers/society/or religion.

I have just enjoyed a particularly happy family Christmas. I was able to spend a lot of time with my five and a half year old grandson, Finn. He is a very secure little boy and actually does believe in himself and that he is good at things. I noticed that as he is starting from a belief that ‘he can’, it truly helps him to do it. This inner confidence has helped him leap ahead with his school work. He hasn’t yet learned the lesson of losing though. We had games of Snakes and Ladders when he expected he would always beat his granny, and tears when he didn’t. However he will learn and gain from the losing times (in games and in life, as we all do) but the golden inner core of confidence will carry him through.

In the December issue of Stella Polaris, Finn’s Mum (my daughter Sara) wrote about ‘A Perfect Christmas’ and New Year’s resolutions. She talked about how the making of resolutions (and the often inevitable breaking of them) can add to an existing feeling that somehow we are not as good as we should be, and always have to strive for greater achievement and perfection. To quote: ‘Reeling from the imperfections of Christmas we find there comes a new challenge. New Year. New Year—new start. New Year resolutions. All promoting the notion that we are not quite good enough. That if we just tried that little bit harder, we would be perfect! In many ways, this is wonderful. Like the seasons, our lives are renewed. We can always start afresh, always move on. I may climb the stairs slowly, but I am getting higher all the time! I love that encouraging thought. On the other hand, though, it is possible for us to take it a little too far. The other message that the New Year resolution gives us is that we are in constant need of improvement, that there is something wrong that we need to fix, all the time. White Eagle says: “Of what use is it to stand in a dark room and contemplate the darkness? No progress is made in that way; but if a lighted candle or lamp is brought into that room, it illumines and reveals all”.’

These last few days I have been contemplating all these things, and the feeling that there is something wrong with us which we have to fix, and our New Year resolutions will help us do this! Sara wrote about how resolutions can focus our thoughts on negative aspects of our lives rather than celebrating the positive and quoted White Eagle saying: ‘Perhaps you are unaware that whenever you think negatively, you are actually creating negative conditions for yourselves. To create positive good, you must always think positively…What you think today, you become tomorrow.’

So I have decided I shall do what Sara suggests and choose just one positive thought for my New Year resolution…I won’t tell you what it is, but end with Sara’s closing quote from White Eagle: ‘Be true to your innermost light, and you will create heaven and know complete happiness on earth.’

'What can I give him, poor as I am? If I were a shepherd I would bring a lamb.'

These are the well known words in the last verse of the carol ’In the Bleak Midwinter’ by Christina Rossetti. This carol often forms a part of our Christmas Services in the White Eagle Lodge. As I write this we have just had our Christmas celebration in our London Lodge’s temporary home in the heart of London near Trafalgar Square. Many came to join Colum, Anna and myself as we led our Christmas Service and party. It was a poignant time in one way, as we all remembered our last Christmas Service in our home in St. Mary Abbot’s Place, but also it was joyous because we realised how true it is that our Lodge is not a building—it is a community of loving hearts, a ‘grail cup’ of spiritual light being earthed in London. 

Just after we had sung ‘In the Bleak Midwinter’ (no organist, no pianist, just Anna and Colum leading all our happy singing) I gave a little spontaneous talk based on the final verse. I talked about how each one of us has a gift of the spirit to bring into our lives, our families, our communities. We are all different—shepherds care for lambs, artists create lovely pictures, musicians beautiful music, writers poems and stories that touch the heart, etc. Christmas is a time to remember and celebrate our unique gifts. The next line of the verse is, ‘If I were a wise man I would do my part’.  We are all much wiser than we think we are. True wisdom is not the same as intellectual knowledge. White Eagle encourages all his students to access the wisdom of the spirit which is within the jewel of the soul. We can do this through quiet prayer and meditation. We can do it through contemplation of the magical symbol of the Star, breathing into our everyday minds the wisdom that we have built into our souls through many, many lifetimes.

Then the final beautiful line is: ‘Yet what I can I give Him—give my heart’. The most important gift of all is the gift of love. Whatever our material circumstances, we can all give this gift to people around us. Even though we may not enjoy all the material trappings of Christmas as we know it in our world today, it is possible to put that in its place, and try to remember the gift of love which we can all give, no matter what our material circumstances. In giving love, we are led inwardly to that simple ‘stable’, or as White Eagle often says, ‘the cave of the heart’, where the light is re-born at Christmas time.

I wish you a very blessed and inspiring Christmas—a time to both give and receive the most valuable present of all—LOVE.

No Room At The Inn

Christmas is fast approaching and it is hard not to feel overwhelmed by the modern day materialistic trappings of this time of festivity. It seems to me as though the traditional Christmas story of the journey to Bethlehem with all its magical symbolism may become forgotten. The giving of gifts is certainly remembered but maybe not a lot else—except in primary schools’ nativity plays.

However, whatever the religious beliefs, and whether the Christian Biblical Christmas story is thought of or not, I know that many people do become really concerned, particularly at this time of winter in the Northern Hemisphere, for the plight of homeless people. There is a feeling in many people’s hearts of wanting to give in some charitable way and this is a wonderful thing. In the UK we have recently experienced the annual ‘Children in Need’ appeal which has had very wide media coverage and raised millions of pounds. The money is put to good use in lots of heart-warming ways.

However, although those of us, like myself, who visit big cities (London for example) are sadly used to seeing homeless adults huddled in doorways and subways, it is still shocking to think of children in our ‘wealthy’ society living in terrible poverty. 

My colleague at New Lands, Jan, emailed me recently about a report issued by the charity for homeless ‘Shelter’.  She wrote: ‘The charity Shelter has just published analysed data related to more than 90,000 children in the UK who are without a permanent home. The charity’s chief executive, Campbell Robb, said the “heart-breaking” figures suggest the equivalent of three children in every school are homeless. The researchers were particularly disturbed to find that in June 2014 some 2,130 families in England alone were living in bed and breakfast hotels, almost double the figure for the same period in 2011when the figure was 1,210. Families in this position told the charity that they often felt unsafe, with children exposed to drug and alcohol abuse, fighting, swearing and racial language. Some said they had to live in one room, share kitchen and bathroom facilities with strangers, eat meals on the bed or on the floor. Others reported depression, panic attacks and their children bed wetting. One mother said, “my son became depressed for the first time in his life and my daughter even started self-harming”. Some told the charity of journeys of up to ninety minutes to school and a few failed to attend lessons altogether.

Jan went on to suggest that we can make a very real contribution in the White Eagle Healing and Brotherhood work. She wrote:‘It seems to me that these families need holding in our hearts, in the protective ray of the Great Healer and the love of the Great Mother. I do believe we have a spiritual responsibility not only as brothers but as caring human beings to be aware of such happenings especially as they are on the increase. The soul of the people of Britain does need to rise to overcome these distressing conditions. Thirty years ago I had the privilege of working with many homeless families. They all loved their children and tried to live decent lives, but were caught in a severe poverty trap. My heart feels the sadness that this situation still continues alongside extreme wealth.’

So from our deep caring we have the opportunity with White Eagle’s beautiful teaching and the inspiration of the Star to not only make material gifts if we can, but also to focus our prayers at this time on the tragedy of homelessness. 

I can't help but think of the Christmas story: that Jesus was born in a simple stable. The innkeeper had compassion in his heart and found a solution for Mary and Joseph’s homelessness. Let us pray that one day the magic of the Star will help manifest a warm and comforting home for every child, and let us work with the light to make it so!