Boxing Day 2011

Happy Boxing Day or we could call it Unbagging Day in NW Pasadena. It's a great stretch, but the two could be seen as being related.

Near as I can tell the origins of Boxing Day had to do with the upper classes giving tokens of appreciation to those of the lower classes. "Good King Wenceslas went out on the Feast of Stephen" seems to be about this sort of thing.

An underlying sentiment seems to be that if you do good for the poor, you will be rewarded.

Simple instructions might read:

1. See need. 2. Do good 3. Works best if done with pure heart. 4. Good will come your way.

Repeat.

James and our neighbor Don, were doing something similar this morning.

Some of our neighbors have seen to making their lawns look good, but haven't emptied the bags that were filled by their gardening crew. Since the city's not yet picked up our windstorm remnants we're due for a pick up anytime soon. So being good men who wish to help Mother Earth with the composting process there they were the day after Christmas opening bags and dumping contents in the stack. I don't know where the bags are but I bet they are in a to be used again pile of some sort or the other.

"Therefore, Christian men, be sure, wealth or rank possessing

Ye who now ill bless the poor, shall yourselves find blessing".

A modern verse might include something about being mindful of giving back to the environment. We get blessings from that, too.