Ho Ho Ho Bah Humbug
I find it very interesting to watch human behavior during the Christmas holiday period. This period now runs from the first of November until New Years Day. For two solid months people are bombarded with commercials, music, guilt and greed all in the name of capitalism. Unfortunately, the intense emotions that accompany all of this are not limited to the malls or the parking lots. Even in the workplace people become shorter tempered, more suspiscious and, less likely to let things slide than any other time of year. For some reason today I am thinking and wondering about why this is.What is it about Christmas that creates such anger and often leads to violence or self destruction during a time when we are looking forward to a celebration? The first thought I have is that it is due to the extreme expectations that people have about Christmas and I'm not just talking about children and Santa Claus. Isn't there that special Christmas in your memory that smells, tastes and looks like the ideal Christmas? It doesn't matter that memory distorts or inflates over time. We still work ourselves into the dirt to recreate that perfect Christmas from 19** and then suffer from disallusionment and depression because we can't get it back. Makes me wonder which family Christmas will be the one to haunt my children in the years to come.
The story of a very depressed Elijah the prophet comes to mind. In this part of the story, Elijah is depressed and afraid and wanting to die. He has run from victory and celebration on one mountain to depressed,afraid and wanting to die on another mountain. He ends up in a cave where God tells him to go stand in the entance to the cave and wait for him. There in the entrance Elijah hears a fierce wind and loud thunder but God is not in the noise. Finally he hears the voice of God in a gentle whisper telling him to go back to work, giving him an assistant to help him in his work and sending him on his way.
In the noise, rushing and busyness of the next few weeks, I will be much more purposeful and peaceful as long as I step out of my busyness into the quiet and listen to the gentle whisper of God reminding me of who he is, of who I am and what I am here for. Then I will be ready to step back into the hustle and bustle of holiday preparations with a renewed spirit and the desire to center our celebration on what Jesus has done for us and glorifying him rather than how much we can buy, bake or decorate. Isn't that really what Christmas is about.
posted by Dana @ 3:30 PM
1 Comments:
Well, Mom, you can rest easy where I'm concerned.... I really thought about it, and I don't think there's any one Christmas that sticks out in my mind as the ideal. All I need to make Christmas feel like Christmas is to wake up on December 25th to a blindingly bright camcorder light shining in my face as I exit my bedroom. Ah, the memories. haha =) Just kidding! Honestly, though, all I need is a tree with some lights and my family. That's good enough for me! =) Oh, and no fudge.... =)
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