I have come to bring you peace.

Not the peace of the season, for it is too fleeting.

Not the peace of the carol, for it is too nostalgic.

Not the peace of the greeting card, for it is too slick.

Rather, I have come to bring you peace.

Peace of the ordinary and the everyday.

Peace for the worker, the retired, the student.

Peace in the office, the kitchen, the schoolyard.

I have come to bring you peace.

The peace of accepting yourself as I know you;

the peace of loving yourself as I love you,

and the peace of being yourself as I am who I am.

I have come to bring you peace.

The peace that warms you at the end of a task;

the peace that sustains you through the day,

and the peace that touches you

when you are reconciled with each other.

I have come to bring you peace.

Without peace, my coming is unfulfilled.

Without peace, my birth is forgettable.

Without peace, Christmas is a contradiction.

I have come to bring you peace.