The time is upon us for dinners with family, coming together with friends, and being around others.  We often say that we are getting together with loved ones but there are enough jokes out there about dreading family this time of year that there are obviously still issues.  Those issues stem from not accepting others as they are.

Why is it, in the human psyche, that we must try and make others to be just like ourselves?  Many problems would dissipate should we just love and accept each other as is.  I have such a profound passion for this subject that I could not help but write about it.  To touch on it before the holidays.  Why can’t people just be themselves?  Why must they match certain criteria in order to be fully loved and accepted?

“Oh, he is a pot head.”  Head shake.

“Kind of a thug.”

Wrong religion, wrong manners, wrong background, wrong child to date, wrong haircut, wrong class, wrong….

As soon as you think you don’t do that, please rethink and make sure about that.  If your child isn’t doing the job you wanted or going to college or living how you think they should, do you lecture incessantly?  If your child brings home someone, are you quickly critical because it is not who you imagined?  Are there people that are loud and inconsiderate in the group?  Is there someone that complains about everything?  Can you accept these people?

The child that is making his/her way in the world needs your support, your openness, your hug, no matter what their age.

The boy/girlfriend/husband/wife that is at the family function needs to be welcomed.  Needs to feel welcomed.  Needs a big smile and an arm around them.  Are they completely different than your family?  Good!  Diversity and differences were done on purpose.  God made all different religions, colors, personalities, multitudes of different creatures and people and don’t you think if He wanted them to be all the same, they would have been?

The next part of this is understanding.  We all tend to be egocentric and only think of ourselves.  This is not a harsh statement, it is simply our way of surviving, we tend to think of our needs and selves first.  However, if we could try to understand why folks act as they do (and sometimes you will never know) then you can better love them and accept them.

I know this post has nothing to do with homesteading, but it is so near and dear to my heart being one that was never accepted in situations (and still struggle to be) that I had to put it out there.  It is about family and friends and life and maybe folks just don’t realize what they are doing.

So, this holiday season if someone new (or old) is in your midst, give them all the attention and care you would for a small child.  A smile, a hug, a conversation.  Acceptance.  Love.  For that is the real heart behind these holidays.