My daughter is one of those holiday elves who is ready to put the Christmas music on the day after Halloween. I, however, have been known to leave stores that blast the holly jolly tunes prior to Thanksgiving. I love Christmas and used to be the proud Christmas elf of the family before my daughter came along, but… I like Christmas to follow Thanksgiving. I like to focus on the harvest season, to pay attention to the changing leaves, to smell the autumn air, and to remember the many reasons we have to be thankful… all before we trim our trees. I like the idea of separate but equal holiday celebrating! I like celebrating Christmas in December not in October and November. That doesn’t make me the Grinch! It just keeps me sane!
Today is Saturday, November 18th, and Thanksgiving is in five days. What I’ve noticed this past week is that I am thinking about Christmas. As you can imagine, this isn’t my norm. I’ve actually considered putting on some Christmas music! So, I’ve been wondering what is happening to me this year. Am I giving into the commercialism? Am I buying into the cultural norms that are so out of balance?
No. It’s not that. Here’s what I think it is. I think it is desperation. This has been one heck of a year. Before I go on, let me say that I am always paying attention to the blessings. I am always on the alert for what good can come out of raw ugly. BUT… from someone who has been akin to Pollyanna and Little Mary Sunshine let me just say… 2017 has been one freakin awful year. Do we need to name why? Let me just highlight as briefly as I can what stuck to me like dog poo on a shoe: the White House circus of unbelievable insanity, the ongoing barrage of gun violence, the series of natural disasters, family illness, my own hospital visit and REAL discovery that stress does impact the body (!), the loss of my beloved dog-friend, tragedies of illogical proportions in the lives of friends, the extraordinarily long list of women friends who have been victimized by men (bringing to mind and sleepless nights, my own experiences with this) and the ongoing, daily experience of just trying to keep one’s balance in a world that is not. It’s so bad that people are actually saying stuff like, “Shut up with the prayers. Just DO something already to make this better.”
And so… let there come Christmas. NOT the shopping-shoving-buy-til-you-die Christmas. The Holy one. Let it come. Let it come in ways we cannot predict or wish for. Let it come quietly in the night when we are sleeping… like Santa down the chimney… to fill our homes with warmth and joy. Let it come like Christ in the manger… humbly and with a sweet innocence that seems long lost in this fast, provocative world. Let Christmas come with hope, bright hope that we can do better, we can find and make peace in our souls so we can find and make peace in this world. Let Christmas come in every way we need it to come. Let Christmas come so we don’t have to keep trying so hard to just keep trying so hard. Let Christmas come to help us remember there is grace in rest, in joy, in simplicity, and in compassion towards self and others. Let Christmas come and make us wise again, make us humane enough again that we spend more time looking into each other’s eyes and seeing each other’s hearts. Let’s find each other again… seeking each other out like shepherds determined to find the gift God had waiting for them.
I am praying, before Thanksgiving, for a Christmas miracle… okay… for multiple Christmas miracles. I am praying, and I am working in my own inner soil to regain what has been lost spiritually and emotionally this year so I can not only witness the miracle, but become a contributing part of it. Let Christmas come like stars in the dark sky to shatter what has been and to light the path to what can be.
May we be well. May we be grateful. May we be whole and Holy as the Christmas season yearns for us to be.
Today is Saturday, November 18th, and Thanksgiving is in five days. What I’ve noticed this past week is that I am thinking about Christmas. As you can imagine, this isn’t my norm. I’ve actually considered putting on some Christmas music! So, I’ve been wondering what is happening to me this year. Am I giving into the commercialism? Am I buying into the cultural norms that are so out of balance?
No. It’s not that. Here’s what I think it is. I think it is desperation. This has been one heck of a year. Before I go on, let me say that I am always paying attention to the blessings. I am always on the alert for what good can come out of raw ugly. BUT… from someone who has been akin to Pollyanna and Little Mary Sunshine let me just say… 2017 has been one freakin awful year. Do we need to name why? Let me just highlight as briefly as I can what stuck to me like dog poo on a shoe: the White House circus of unbelievable insanity, the ongoing barrage of gun violence, the series of natural disasters, family illness, my own hospital visit and REAL discovery that stress does impact the body (!), the loss of my beloved dog-friend, tragedies of illogical proportions in the lives of friends, the extraordinarily long list of women friends who have been victimized by men (bringing to mind and sleepless nights, my own experiences with this) and the ongoing, daily experience of just trying to keep one’s balance in a world that is not. It’s so bad that people are actually saying stuff like, “Shut up with the prayers. Just DO something already to make this better.”
And so… let there come Christmas. NOT the shopping-shoving-buy-til-you-die Christmas. The Holy one. Let it come. Let it come in ways we cannot predict or wish for. Let it come quietly in the night when we are sleeping… like Santa down the chimney… to fill our homes with warmth and joy. Let it come like Christ in the manger… humbly and with a sweet innocence that seems long lost in this fast, provocative world. Let Christmas come with hope, bright hope that we can do better, we can find and make peace in our souls so we can find and make peace in this world. Let Christmas come in every way we need it to come. Let Christmas come so we don’t have to keep trying so hard to just keep trying so hard. Let Christmas come to help us remember there is grace in rest, in joy, in simplicity, and in compassion towards self and others. Let Christmas come and make us wise again, make us humane enough again that we spend more time looking into each other’s eyes and seeing each other’s hearts. Let’s find each other again… seeking each other out like shepherds determined to find the gift God had waiting for them.
I am praying, before Thanksgiving, for a Christmas miracle… okay… for multiple Christmas miracles. I am praying, and I am working in my own inner soil to regain what has been lost spiritually and emotionally this year so I can not only witness the miracle, but become a contributing part of it. Let Christmas come like stars in the dark sky to shatter what has been and to light the path to what can be.
May we be well. May we be grateful. May we be whole and Holy as the Christmas season yearns for us to be.
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