From Gary... "fill-er-up"

For my grandchildren

I looked out my window and to my delight

I saw Santa refueling after a hard night

I know he is busy and has a long way to go

so he uses a  high-altitude route don't-you-know

And when he is finished and ready for bed

his thoughts are of the next year's travel ahead

And of all those dear children who still will believe

in the power of love and hope on Christmas eve.

Okay, this picture is a little funny, but there is truth here if we but look. We all need to "fuel up" to "get er done". And teamwork is an absolute essential to accomplishing great things. While there is more myth to Santa than I would like to admit, still, seeing people trying to do the "right" thing, the "good" thing and the "selfless" thing for all the right motives, brings hope to us all in this world of conflict and turmoil. Oh, that we all would remember what is was like to think like a innocent young child and love and trust in the goodness of all human beings.  This upcoming year, let us aim for our personal best and here is the standard I suggest we use...

1 Corinthians, Chapter 13 (WEB)

 4  Love is patient and is kind; love doesn’t envy. Love doesn’t brag, is not proud,  5 doesn’t behave itself inappropriately, doesn’t seek its own way, is not provoked, takes no account of evil;  6 doesn’t rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;  7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will be done away with. Where there are various languages, they will cease. Where there is knowledge, it will be done away with.  9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part;  10 but when that which is complete has come, then that which is partial will be done away with.  11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child. Now that I have become a man, I have put away childish things.  12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, even as I was also fully known.  13 But now faith, hope, and love remain—these three. The greatest of these is love. 

May God bless you all richly until next Christmas and beyond!!!