Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 26, Number 12, 1 Kekemapa 2009 — This Christmas, send a gift of prayer [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

This Christmas, send a gift of prayer

This is the time of year we eelebrate 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 communicate 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 m our prayers." Fet's do something diflerent 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. Yisualize the keiki in your family graduating with honors and going on to college. Visual-

ize your elderly neighbors who spend the holidays alone - surrounded by family having a wonderful Christmas dinner. Visualize your tūtū walking effortless 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 retums 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 become nurturing parents - for the sake of our children. Eia ka ho'opōmaika'i no kēia wā a no ka makahiki hou. Aia mau 'oukou ma ko mākou leo pule. Wishing you the bestfor the holiday season and the coming year. You are always in our prayers. I

Dūnald B. Cataluna TrustEE, Kaua'i and Ni'ihau