by Christopher McRae, Discipleship Team Leader
“On the Third Day of Christmas my True Love Gave to me:
Three drops of moderation,
Two heaps of generosity,
and a pack of patience in a time of need.”
Christopher McRae, Discipleship Team Leader
The Most Wonderful Time of the Year
Pleasant fall days of warmth and breezes have been replaced with frost and ice. Tree leaves have changed and fallen. They’ve been gathered and scattered. Thanksgiving travel has come and gone. Family and friends have dispersed to their domestic responsibilities. Turkey leftovers have been gobbled along with dressing and cranberries. You’ve disposed of the leftover leftovers. Now, with only 18 Days, 15 hours, 50 minutes and 07 seconds left until Christmas morning arrives, we’re well on our way into the holiday season. It seems that we’ve already run a gauntlet of trees and tinsel, packages and parties, shopping and cooking and wrapping. And yet, there’s so much more to do.
If we’re not careful we can be overrun by this runaway time of year that jingles and jangles headlong through the calendar with little care for our agendas or to-do lists. Before you know it, that “last-minute” rush that you swore you’d avoid blusters quickly into our lives like an arctic blast blowing winter storm warnings out of the frozen north. We become ragged and storm-tossed in the swirling blizzards of busyness. We lose our “Silent Night, Holy Night” peace in the cacophonic chaos. The message of “Joy to the World” is lost amidst the unruly complaints of too much to do and not enough of me to go around. When I hear the call, “O Come, All Ye Faithful” I steer clear because I’ve witnessed the worst of humanity — in the malls and in myself.
In this though, we dare not miss the whole reason we go through it all. This is the importance of Advent. A reminder to slow down. To marvel at faith. To delight with joy. To reflect in peace. To labor at love.
The Gift of Christmas
The present, lovingly prepared and wrapped and sent from heaven begins with the Giver. God loved the people of his creation so much that he gave to them the gift of his Son Jesus — the Living Word of Creation became the Incarnate Word of Redemption.
Our True Love, God, gave his people the Gift of gifts at the birth of the King of kings. And with him he brings gifts of the Spirit. These allow us and grace us with power to become the best of humanity. Because we have Christ, because we have been enriched with God’s goodwill, favor and kind regard, we have the ability to demonstrate these gifts to others at this time
4 Kindness — Everyone you encounter in these December days can use a kindhearted action on your part. We know the power of someone doing something unexpectedly kind, especially when they had to go a bit out of their way to benefit someone other than themselves.
5 Grace — I’m not talking about being the hostess with the mostest but that doesn’t hurt during the holiday season either. I’m thinking that on any given day, given the right set of wrong circumstances, any one of us can be jerks. So, when someone does wrong by you, give as has been given to you. A sensible person controls themselves and earn respect by overlooking a wrong.
6 Deference — We are all busy and in a hurry. Take some time to take a step back and let someone else go ahead of you. When you are at peace with God and with the world you can recognize that others are in a hurry too…and you can let them have the place of preference.
The most important gifts we give to one another are simply a re-gifting of what we have received from God the Father through his Son, Jesus whose birth we sing. Freely you have received, freely give.
“On the sixth day of Christmas my True Love gave to me
Six dollops of deference
F i v e t o n s of g r a c e
Four heaps of kindness…
Three drops of moderation,
Two heaps of generosity,
and a pack of patience in a time of need.”
