Dear Ahiah Family,

With Christmas only a couple of weeks away, we are in the Season of Love.  This season's tradition is to care more.  We care more about others, taking time to let people know that we love them.  We care more about people we don't know, adding a smile as we pass people by on our busy days and giving to charities that help people we will never know.  We should also remember to care more about ourselves; we often take stock of our health and choose to do more.

We all know how to care, but do we know how to care compassionately?  To know that, you need to understand the word compassion.  The roots of this word are two:  com and passion.  Com is Latin for "with, together," and passion is an old French that refers to the death of Christ on the Cross and especially the suffering he felt.  So to be compassionate is to be one with Christ's suffering, or in today's definition, to feel or sympathize with someone's suffering.  

Compassion is a central theme in Buddhism.  The teaching is to selflessly act to alleviate suffering wherever it appears.  That is a step beyond what we are typically willing to do.  We live busy lives and struggle to have enough money for our needs, so how can we act selflessly?  "ACT" is the operative word here, and I think to care compassionately, we must have an active component—more than just the smile or a dollar given at the freeway off-ramp.  

A great example of caring compassionately is Rev. Mike and Marcia's work in the prison.  Rev. Mike, while not having had the experience of being sentenced to serve a prison term, never the less has experienced a lack of freedom in his life, and so he understands and relates to these prisoners.  He has also taken action to alleviate the suffering in the prisons.  So that is an excellent example of Caring Compassionately.  

Join us at Ahiah as we take action to alleviate the suffering in the world.  Whether inside our walls or outside of them, we take action.  Right now, we are buying Christmas Presents for children who would feel left out of Christmas cheer otherwise, and we are helping to send our teens to Teen Camp to learn skills that will uplift them in life.  We also offer things like the Enneagram Workshop and Beyond Limits class in January to our adults to expand their skills, reducing their suffering.  

In this Season of Love, my love and prayers go out to you and your family.  Please remember that however you can participate at Ahiah, I hold you in my heart and prayers until I see you next.

Blessings,
Rev. Scott Olson