Our family loves our gold fish.
We bought them last January for Zek’s 10th
birthday. Well, actually, both he and Aim really wanted a puppy, a cat and a
pair of birds….and a horse..and a pig…and lots of chickens. In short, they
dreamt of putting up a petting farm inside our 40 square meter flat. Heaven forbid
that their dream come to fulfilment for I dread competing with a pig in my snoring-sleep
and walking over those nose-wrenching organic wastes on our floor. Not to mention the
angry petitioners from our neighbors who’d swear this weren’t their idea of
city-living when they bought their flat-units.
Anyway, for almost a year now, we have the serene,
quiet and well-behaved companionship of our fish in the safe confines of a
fish-bowl. We clean it regularly. We placed white sand and a few rocks. We are adding
some water plants now and then. Zek intently observes the fish behaviour and
throws out random questions like – “Why do they keep opening their mouth as if
they are talking me?” or “Don’t they get tired of swimming?” Aim, on the other
hand, often fights his great urge to dip his small hand into the bowl and scare
the wits out of them by creating a mini whirpool.
And as for me, I do marvel at how they waited
like clockwork for their feeding time. They would make a surface-up group-swim
everytime they see the green round container that holds their fish food. They
would squish and squash around and get really excited.
Aren’t we also excited this time?
Well, we should be.
It’s barely a week to Christmas day.
The tell-tale signs have been showing the past
weeks. Promo sales here and there. Heavy-traffic doubling in size and duration.
Malls and houses decorated. Streetlights adorned with colourful flashing
lights. People buying gifts. Parties and dinners being held left and right and “diet”
is declared a fallacy. Airports at full-capacity due to arriving holiday-makers.
Santa is a common sight around. People put up a better effort to be nice.
But here is a last-few-day reminder for us to
be really excited for the right reason.
More than two-thousand years ago, our God of
love has fulfilled His promise.
In a few days we will celebrate the incarnation
of our only salvation.
So how should we show our genuine excitement?
On these days, we must share our joy and our
blessings to our less-fortunate neighbors.
On these days, we must sing songs of joy to Him,
receive Him through the sacraments and celebrate His Holy Eucharist.
On these days, we must find the elusive time to
be quiet alone with Him and in the silence of our heart - talk to Him, thank
Him, praise Him.
Jesus Christ, our God and Redeemer.
We love you.
Merry Christmas to all of us.
