A Season of Lights... A Season of Perspective...

The holiday season arrives with its familiar glow. Storefronts shine with decorations, music follows us through every aisle, and the rhythm of commercial Christmas wraps itself around our days. This time of year carries a promise of joy, yet it is remarkably easy to drift into the world of wanting more, buying more, and feeling frustrated over the smallest disruptions to our comfort.

We feel irritated when the mall is too crowded to move through easily. We grumble when the internet slows down while we search for gifts that are more about habit than meaning.

We complain when shipping takes an extra day. We shake our heads when the color of wrapping paper we prefer is sold out. We sit in heated cars and still curse the traffic. We get annoyed when a coffee order is slightly off or a streaming service buffer at the wrong moment.

These frustrations feel real, and they belong to the life we live. A life shaped by convenience, comfort, and an environment where small disruptions can feel larger than they truly are.

But beyond this world is another truth. Not in distant countries alone, but right here in our own nation, and across the entire planet.

Globally, nearly half of the human population survives on less than seven dollars a day. About 8 to 9 percent of the world lives on less than 2.15 dollars a day. Around 3 billion people cook their meals over wood, charcoal, or other solid fuels because there is no stove, no electricity, and no alternative.

About 43 percent of humanity has no safely managed sanitation. Roughly 60 percent of the global population does not have a toilet at home that safely handles human waste.

More than 2 billion people do not have clean running water. Only about half of the world has regular access to hot water. Nearly 3 billion people have never been online.

And then we look at our own country.

More than 2 million people in the United States live without running water or basic indoor plumbing. About 522,000 American households have incomplete plumbing, which means no working shower, or no hot and cold running water, or no toilet that functions properly. Around 1.1 million people in our country lack a household water connection or sewer service.

More than 37 million Americans live below the poverty line. Many rural and low income communities still have no reliable home internet access. Tens of thousands live in homes that do not meet basic structural safety. Countless families struggle to afford food, heat, or stable shelter even during the holidays.

These are not distant stories. These are people living in our own cities, our own states, our own neighborhoods. This is the quiet truth behind the image of a nation that often assumes everyone lives with the same conveniences.

And when you hold these two worlds side by side, something shifts inside you.

Not guilt. Not shame. Awareness.

Awareness that blessings are not guaranteed. Awareness that comfort is not universal.

Awareness that our daily life contains gifts that many have never touched.

We have clean water that flows with a turn of a faucet. We have hot water that arrives within seconds. We have toilets that flush, showers that run, and electricity that hums through our homes. We have heating, cooling, and safe shelter. We have grocery stores filled with more food choices than some families will see in a lifetime. We have transportation, medicine, technology, and connection. We have the privilege to be frustrated by small things only because our large needs are already held.

These are not small blessings. They are life shaping. They are the reason we sleep safely, eat regularly, and wake without fear.

This reflection is not about shaming anyone. It is not about pointing fingers or making anyone feel small. It is about opening our eyes to a larger human picture and inviting gratitude to rise naturally from that awareness.

It is about asking a real and honest question.

What are we doing with the blessings we have to serve others?

Blessings gain their meaning when they move. When they soften someone's struggle. When they create space for another soul to breathe. When they become part of lifting someone up rather than accumulating silently at our feet.

As the lights of the season shine around us, may we feel the depth of what we already have. May we stand in gratitude. May we open our hearts to the reality’s others live every day. And may we turn our blessings into service, compassion, care and Love.

Because that is the true heartbeat of this season. We are blessed beyond measure. And the most sacred way to honor those blessings is to let them flow outward into the world. Blessings, Love & Light... After Thought... Imagine a world where everyone has clean water, safe shelter, food, and warmth. Peace would grow. Communities would thrive. Life would be celebrated instead of survived.

We would begin to see ourselves as one human family, not divided by imaginary borders, and the next generations would inherit a kinder planet. We would evolve to the level of a planetary society.

And remember this. Anyone who can see beyond themselves is a gift to this world, to humanity, and to the universe that holds us.

What a gift indeed...