Reading: James
1:17--"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the
Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows."
I always get a kick
out of hearing about how people prepare for the Christmas season. It seems that
more and more are following suit of the department stores and are decorating
their homes earlier and earlier in the calendar year. Then, by the evening of
the 25th of December, they're beginning to get the itch to restore their homes
to pre-holiday décor. Many trees head out the door or back into the box on
December 26--the day is over and the anticipation is over. Time to get back to
the day-to-day.
This reminds me of
how we pretty much handle any important events in our lives. Remember proms
from high school? Graduations? Birthday
parties? In retrospect, it seems that the anticipation gets more of our
attention and energy than the event itself. In fact, when the event does
arrive, we have already grown weary of the whole thing. Isn't that silly of us?
Christmas is not
just about all the anticipation, although that anticipation has a name--Advent.
It is a beautiful season in and of itself. And, after Christmas, we have the
next wondrous season leading up to Epiphany--the momentous time when the three
Wise Men found the Christ Child and worshipped him as King of Kings.
So,
remember...Christmas isn't necessarily over at the stroke of midnight on the
25th of December. It's also not a single season in and of itself. There's so
much more to enjoy--and yes, anticipate. The greatest beauty of the season is
the unchanging gift of perfect love that we are all given with the birth of
this wondrous child. Happy Advent, Merry Christmas, Happy Epiphany.
Peace be with you.
No comments:
Post a Comment