Susan Beckett

Well, it’s finally here! We knew it was coming but this year we’ve all just been so busy we haven’t had time to think much about it. Christmas! Finally!! If ever there was a year when this amazing and delightful holiday was needed, it’s 2020!

Several decades ago, when my daughters were in grade school, we drove to Orange County to meet my mother for a day trip to Newport Beach. A “fun in the sun” time would be had by all. We parked along the street and spent a long glorious day in surf and sand.

There are two things people want more than sex and money. Care to take a gander as to what those could be? Bingo if you came up with “recognition and praise.” That little tidbit comes to us courtesy from one of the most successful business persons of our time - Mary Kay Ash, founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics. So was she right?

There was once a pastor who visited a church member whom he had not seen in church for quite a long time. The pastor was invited into the man’s home and, being cold outside, the two of them sat in front of the man’s blazing fireplace for a while. After a bit, the pastor got up and picked out a hot coal from the fire and sat it aside on the fireplace hearth.

It’s said those who don’t learn from the past are doomed to repeat it. Probably most of you reading this can remember an event or situation where, in hindsight, you could have, should have, or might have, planned for a better outcome - if only you could have been able to see ahead into the past.