Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 21, Number 12, 1 December 2004 — Visual gifts of prayer [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Visual gifts of prayer

This is the time of year we celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and embrace the love of our family and friends. This is the time of year we share gifts and messages of happiness and goodwill with our dear ones. Christmas may be the one and only time of the year that we eommunicate with our friends via a Christmas card. We attempt to express our prayers and best wishes for the holiday season and the New Year in a mere sentence or two: "Wishing you the best for the holiday season and the coming year.

You are always in our prayers." Let's do something different this year; give visual gifts. One at a time, picture eaeh person on your list and visualize that person enjoying the most precious gift imagined for him or her. Visualize the keiki in your family graduating with honors and going on to college. Visualize your elderly neighbors who spend the holidays alone, surrounded by family having a wonderful Christmas dinner. Visualize your tutu walking effortlessly without the pain of arthritis. Visualize that family member onee hooked on drugs, enjoying Christmas with

friends, free of all drugs. Visualize family members who need to lose weight and picture them slender and healthy. Visualize greeting your loved one as he or she returns safely home from Iraq. A monetary gift has no value, the real value is in how mueh of yourself goes into the giving, so that when the monetary gift is gone, the spirit of your visual gift of prayer lingers on. The power of prayer is awesome. I visualize the celebration of worldwide recognition for the Hawaiian people. I visualize the organized planning of a solid foundation for a Hawaiian nation

striving to achieve the goals that create the recognition we deserve. I pray for the healing of our Hawaiian people that God will heal our hearts and surround us with His peaee. I visualize and pray for all who read these words to heeome nurturing parents - for the sake of our children. Iā 'oukou nā mea maika'i a pau i kēia kau, a i ka makahiki hou a'e. Kū mau 'oukou i kā mākou pule. Wishing you the best for the holiday season anā the coming year. You are always in our prayers. ■

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Donald B. Cataluna Trustee, Kaua'i and Ni'ihau