December 23. Christmas !!!!!!!
It’s here.
We’ll celebrate at home tonight even though it’s two nights before the 25th. We’ll read the Christmas Story and just BE together. Food and gifts, yes. But more: our faces our hearts.. love.
We’ll be together. And it’ll take some work.
Tomorrow we’ll wake, scramble to get the truck packed with three kids, one dog, 5 pieces of luggage, some number of gifts, a fistful of lists and the almighty Garmin.
And, as the parents who manage all this, we’ll have our importantly-peaceful insides.
My husband and I sat this morning in prayer to prepare for the chaos that’s coming. We lift one anther and we know that there’s the potential for us to let stress rule,
….or to let trust and happiness rule. If we choose the latter, we’ll need God.
Got it. Easy choice.
But it still requires us to put roadblocks up against the natural inclinations we have to plan too much, expect too much, direct too much. It requires us to flow like water through each moment, knowing we are all more than any one thing, one exchange or one gift.
The gifts this year include decisions to BE WITH important people. My just-widowed mom. We’ll be at her side for her Christmas Eve celebration at her church. We’ll BE with the whole crew on Christmas Eve at the family lunch. In order to do all that, we’ll be away from home, packing and unpacking. Arranging and sleeping in not-home places.
We show our children that those efforts are for the sole purpose of being together. Being present … bringing our hearts to the room, as the gift.
Amidst the gifts, and the beauty of the season, it’s mostly about BEING. Remembering that God came to BE WITH us … a shocking gift that we can feel, hold, wear, use… every minute.
So as we feel like Mr & Mrs. Clark Griswold (x 3), we use laughter and patience as we bring God with us through our human foibles of travel and wrapped packages.
And we can escape at any moment to BE with the one who comforts and cleanses us of everything from frustration to worry to stress-induced-nausea.
And our insides know it’s all about where we’re going, and with whom we want to BE.
I wish you the blessing of a deep breath and true focus on the beauty of the faces around you this Christmas.