Daily Archives: November 21, 2014

A number of years ago, actually many years ago, while visiting my parents during the holidays, after way too much food I slipped off to take a nap and got interested in the 1951 version of A Christmas Carol, that was just starting on the TV.  I became engrossed in it, and of course had seen the story many times before, but on this occasion I think I really understood it for the first time.  In the last scenes when Scrooge said he was ready for change, I realized it was time.  I picked up a copy of the book so I could make a framed print of the most important words to me, from the scene with Marley’s ghost.  It set on my office desk for years and I read it almost everyday, I now know it by heart.  It was what caused a major change in my life.  Please allow me to share it with you now;

 

Marley’s ghost:  Oh man of the worldly mind do you believe in me or not!?

 

Scrooge:  I  do, I do, I do, I must, but why do you walk the earth and why do come to me?

 

Marley’s ghost:  It is required of every man that spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow man, if it goes not in life it is condemned to do so after death doomed to wander through the world,  shriek, oh woe is me…..and witness what it cannot share, but might have shared on earth and turned to happiness.

 

Scrooge:  Why are you fettered?

 

Marley’s ghost:  I where the chain I forged in life, I made it link by link, and yard by yard, I girded it of my own free will and of my own free will I wore it.

 

I decided on that day that I didn’t want that chain pulling me down.  It was a time of great change, the first real Christmas of my life, I still watch A Christmas Carol, a number of versions.  It is a constant reminder to me of the day I desired and made a change….

 

As you prepare for Thanksgiving, I pray you find the change you desire in your life!

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim