19 Dec 2024 ‘Twas the Week Before Christmas

Posted at 18:55h in The Friday Brief by

Twas the week before Christmas
And almost year-end
All the money’s been earned
And most of it spent
Where did it go, and what did it do?
Who did you bless, and who did you…not?
Did it move with a purpose
And fit in the plot
Or wander and sputter or
Wither and rot?

Did the markets distract you
Or keep you from sleep?
Did the Fed fill your daydreams
With rates still quite steep?
Did the world with its chaos
Descend on your mind?
Or could you be present, here,
and move slow through time?

Look! Our fears are all real fears
We all do our best
So in the year that is near
Let our best be…rest
In the peace and the process
The calm of content
With the spending and saving
And giving well meant
And less frantically glued to the
TVs and doom scrolls
More in tune with the folks who
Give light to our souls.

Let us be free of the lie
That more is enough
And bless others this new year
With kindness and love.

Jared Korver
[email protected]

A product of small-town North Carolina (Carthage, to be exact), I’m proudly married to my best friend and co-adventurer, Amy. Together, we have two sons–Miles and Charlie–and could more or less start a library from our home. I love being outside, can’t read enough, am in the habit of writing haikus, and find food and coffee to be among life’s greatest treasures.