Fine-tuning my focus
I love Christmas. Each year I can’t wait to get our tree out and decorations up. Last year I persuaded Bev to do this before Thanksgiving so we could sit in the season as long as possible. We took them down NY Eve having enjoyed nearly seven weeks of winter wonderland in our 1110 square feet of living space.
it’s just the opposite this year. It's been a different season for us with an assortment of extended family trauma and personal physical challenges. Ten days before Christmas we have a poinsettia plant brought to us by a friend and we hope to set up our traditional nativity scene later this afternoon.
Yet it feels to me as if in some ways this is a uniquely meaningful Christmas for us without all the glitter and tinsel, even though I miss it. I’m finding myself with a mindset that is less earthy centered and more eternally-focused.
Here’s what i’ve been pondering these last few days as i’ve purposely found myself fine-tuning my focus on Jesus, the seemingly trite--but true--"reason for the season”.
1. Though I love all the trappings of Christmas, they can obscure my vision of what’s most important. It's easy to be overwhelmed by a schedule of special holiday-related events and the pressure of selecting just the right gift for 12 grandchildren and two great grandchildren. Our approach to all if this has been necessarily relaxed and not tainted by time and traffic. We’ve simply been “home” and been blessed by the ease of online shopping and drop shipping!
2. We are past the stage of needing or wanting anything for Christmas so we don’t spend of time planning what we will get each other. This year I’ve been celebrating the gift of my wife’s faithful and devoted care of me following surgery and the gift of precious time together.
3. I’ve been made more conscious of the shortness of life and intentionally more focused on the eternal than the temporal. This has resulted in more time for prayerful contemplation, listening to the uplifting music of the season and sweet communication by text and telephone with family and friends.
This is not to disparage the intended observation of our traditional Christmas practices and plans. Instead it’s the discovery once again that all if the things around us that lend to this special season of the year cannot supplant the true meaning of Christmas--the “glad tidings that Christ was born--Immanuel, God with us.