Open Hands

I have been reading A Christmas Carol to my kids.  Dickens at any time of the year can feed my soul, but reading A Christmas Carol at Christmas (with my kids on my lap) is sheer bliss.  His imagery is absolutely luscious, I am cold with Cratchit and can hear the rumbling of Marley's chains, I am in eager anticipation with Mrs. Cratchit to see if the Christmas pudding has turned out.  And I am caught off guard by the generosity of the second spirit.  He is so generous that his presence brightens a room and his absence is noticed. This in comparison to Scrooge's absolute stinginess brings a sudden light to the book.  He is absolutely unable to be generous because he is so fearful of being poor.  I was surprised as I read it this year to catch a glimpse of his fear of poverty, I always assumed his stinginess was because of his love of money.  But his stinginess doesn't come with longing for the comforts of wealth, because he doesn't take any pleasure in his money.  Actually, he doesn't even seek pleasure.  Rather, he holds on to his money because he is anguished at the thought of poverty.  His fear of poverty for himself leads him to hate those that are poor and to look down on them.

One of my favorite scenes is right at the beginning when the gentlemen come asking for a donation for the poor and Scrooge asks, "Are there no prisons?".
The gentlemen respond, "Plenty of prisons."
"Are there no union workhouses?"
"Plenty of union workhouses."
"Oh! I was afraid from what you said at first, that something had occurred to stop them in their useful course." The gentlemen go on to explain that this donation is not necessarily meant to meet the physical needs of the poor but to provide some Christmas cheer.

I want to have a generous spirit, not one that is so fearful of absolute poverty that I hold onto everything I have.  I want to have open hands.