Are You Ready for Christmas?
Are you willing to stoop down
and consider the needs and desires of little children;
to remember the weaknesses and loneliness of people
who are growing old;
to stop asking how much your friends love you,
and to ask yourself whether you love them enough;
to bear in mind the things that other people have to bear on their hearts;
...to trim your lamp so that it will give more light and less smoke,
and to carry it in front so that your shadow will fall behind you;
to make a grave for your ugly thoughts
and a garden for your kindly feelings, with the gate open?
Are you willing to do these things for a day?
Then you are ready for Christmas!
– Henry Van Dyke