Under the heading "you can find Christmas Spirit on any day of the year, if it doesn't find you first!"
As the proud "elder statesman" of the Housekeeping dept. at St. Boniface - and one unencumbered by shyness or a lack of good English communication skills - I have always made a point of greeting new faces with a hearty "Welcome to St. Boniface Hospital" or "Congratulations on your new job here in Housekeeping".
The responses are for the most part quite positive - English is not often a strength for many new hires - and if the message, is not completely understood, the friendliness and sincerity of the hulking and happy messenger certainly is.
When you add my "Ambassadorial" role to my other unofficial duties such as "joker of the day", "Senior Mr. Know it all", "poet in residence" and "positivity consultant" etc. , it's not hard to imagine that the "back nine" of my career at Good old St. B. has become about as enjoyable a "job" as anyone in my circumstance could really hope for.
And if you were looking for something specific, look no further than yesterday....
A young fellow I had "welcomed" a few years ago has always made a point of returning that small favour by always saying hello and asking how things were going.
The joke between us has sort of been that he's checking to see if I remember his name because it took me several months to finally lock his into my memory. ( I know thousands of people by name but unless I see them every day it's hard to process "new" ones ).
Anyway, yesterday Peter approaches me in the office where we're getting our keys at the start of shift and says, "Hey Tim, I was cleaning my locker a few weeks ago and I found that Christmas poem you wrote. I've got it on my wall at home now" he added.
"That one, " I replied wondering to which one of several he might be referring, " that poem was pretty good...I always get good reviews from people for that," I said.
Then out of the blue I realize the poem he means is the one with the first line, "C is for the CHILD of God...", because he next tells me that "...the girl I'm engaged to marry this year is a Christian and I must admit that a lot of her beliefs are starting to rub off on me."
"Well that's fantastic !", I told the grinning young man adding, "God Bless the both of you, you'll be very happy !".
"Thanks Tim, it's going to be quite a step," Peter said.
Seizing my newest duty as the department's "Spiritual Advisor" with great enthusiasm, I was instantly inspired to add, "Life is a challenging series of forks in the road and important choices you have to make Peter. With God in your corner, Life itself is easier...the choices are easier because you KNOW in your heart the difference between right and wrong and you will both eventually always make the decisions that are the right ones".
"That's very true," he said "Thank you".
"That's just great Peter," I said and since it was time to get to work I added a "God Bless You" and headed off to begin my actual job...."shining the old place up like a NEW PENNY" ...as I have been know to say.
* I hope this leaves you with a smile today and a reminder of what I've told many friends and family about the disappointing lack of "traditions" this past Christmas. The SPIRIT of love, sharing, forgiveness and hope does not begin and end around a tree in late December. It should, and can be the essence of a well lived every day life - blessed and guided by the Good Lord.
Have a wonderful day....(Merry Christmas !)
stay safe, strong and happy, love Tim xo (5733)
