I took some of my own advice tonight and took a break; snuggled up with some leftovers and a new Christmas movie. This time of year there is a whole slew of them and once in a while I'll get in the mood to watch one.
They are usually tear-jerkers and I don't normally watch them as I seldom need much of a reason to shed tears. In fact, there was a time many years back when I was teased for choking up over a McDonald's commercial. Still, from time to time, I'll take in one of these dramas.
This one was good one; a coincidental detail established a change in several different lives. It got me to thinking. What is to say that a little detail in my life, like which checkout line to wait in or what food mart to dash into, might not make a big difference in my life or someone elses?
Along those same lines, I remembered a story I read about the death of a man who gave away Christmas money every year. It all started when he left a tip for a waitress a couple of decades ago and was so touched by her gratitude that he started giving out Christmas money all over town. He died this week, but now there are a number of people who do that throughout the heartland because he put the idea into their heads.
I think with the man and in the movie, the similarity was how the people reacted to the detail. In both cases, they allowed it to make a difference, viewing it as an opportunity with optimism and anticipation. I think both stories would've been quite different if the attitudes had swayed farther to the negative, or (even worse!) the detail had been accepted with apathy.
So I guess what I took away from this movie is that day-to-day circumstances all by themselves seldom bring about any real change. It's how I use my circumstances that can make a difference.
Comments(0)