A New Morning is Not Just for Scrooge

The Relief of Beginning Anew

Hello ♡,

One of the parts of this time of year for me is to revisit one of favorite movie scenes of all time. I’m not much of a Scrooge fan in general, but I live for the Christmas morning scenes in every version of “A Christmas Carol.”

I can feel the cold, jolting and invigorating, as he stumbles out onto the street that morning. I can feel the bright sunlight, almost blinding in hope and possibility, as he wakes from the feverish nightmare he was caught in the night before. I can feel the bubbling joy as he laughs and tosses money, food, and actual kindness to everyone he encounters. More than anything, I can feel the relief - the relief of a second chance.

I think about Scrooge, and his Christmas morning second chance, year round. It’s an enactment to me of the relief of getting to try again.

Photo by Aimee Giles on Unsplash

I scroll through my own life and I wonder, where am I Scrooge? And where can the relief of a fresh start in the morning help me to be who I actually want to be?

Sure, most of us do not identify with the dramatic way in which Scrooge harmed, and hoarded, and cut people off. But most of us can identify with wishing we had said something differently, been a bit softer, payed a little more attention to those seeking our attention, or been a bit more generous in our interactions with those around us. The dramatic story of Scrooge echoes our own everyday longings to try again.

Scrooge’s epiphany, of what really matters (and what really doesn’t) is not just for the movies, it’s for us too. And it is not just for the big things, it is for all the little things we wish to try again.

Beginning anew looks like me realizing I was distracted by my phone as my youngest and I read a book before bed. The quiet hum of her noisemaker, the little reading light clipped to her bunk bed, the persistent request for the same prayer, and the little face that won’t be so little for very much longer didn’t hold my gaze as I picked up my phone to see the latest update. It sounds ludicrous - because it is. I am missing the sacred moment here with her for a disembodied one on my phone.

I close the door, and head to my room to change before bed. I’m relieved the day is over. I am tired. And there in the quiet, I remember her little face, and little voice, and wish I’d paid better and closer attention to her.

And in the quiet of my closet, I resolve to try again tomorrow.

The relief of the fresh start of my own Scrooge Christmas morning rushes at me with bright, crisp possibility, and it almost feels like I can be new tomorrow.

Photo by Paulina K on Unsplash

I don’t believe the point is to get it right all the time. Sure, that would be great. But we all know that’s impossible, and that’s why there are no movies made about that. The point is to try again, and again, and again - gently, and as many times are needed. The point is to meet your wish to do something better, differently, more, or less, with the same forgiveness and renewal as Scrooge stumbling out onto the street on Christmas morning in his pajamas.

You GET to try again because here is another day, another morning. Your failure to “get it right” pales in comparison to the brightness of a new morning to try again.

Whatever your Scrooge morning represents - I am there with you on the street, believing, just like he did, that you can be different and that we all need a second chance. This is not just the stuff movies are made of, it is the stuff our lives and mornings can be made of.

With you,

Monica