Keep Things in Perspective! (And pray every day for the world to do the same)

This Christmas Season I decided to be quiet. To stop talking, stop writing, stop having an opinion and listen, just listen. As you can see from the last entry to this blog it has been a very quiet time for the Office of Young Adult Ministry, and a very quiet time for me. As I headed into the busy season of Advent and Christmas, I found myself more and more quiet, watching the hustle and bustle of people around me, the acquisition of more and more stuff that people don’t really need; the adoption of this Christian holiday by people who are not very (if at all) Christian the other days of the year (even my Jewish friends were busy decorating their Christmas tree and buying presents), the television shows, commercials and store music that really made you feel like an alien if you were not so ready to buy into the whole thing.  I found myself wondering what I could get my son that would make his eyes twinkle and shriek with excitement on Christmas – because to tell you the truth, I needed that more than anything because he is growing up and there is no little boy in my house any longer.  Despite him telling me that he didn’t need anything I wanted to get him something, and the world around me told me that I did too.  On Christmas Eve I found myself pretty depressed that as a single mother, I really couldn’t justify threatening the mortgage payment, or heating fuel, or – oh yea, Christmas Eve my furnace decided to get sick, so an emergency visit of a repairman on Christmas Day also didn’t help – and all along my son told me that he didn’t need anything. But as parents we all know that the abundance of Christmas isn’t really about what our kids need, or what they want, but about us, and how we have bought into what the world tells us we are suppose to be as parents and perhaps, it is a way for us to make up all those times throughout the year when we didn’t do it perfectly, because somehow we were taught that we are suppose to do it perfectly every time!  As I went to sleep that night, hoping we wouldn’t get too much snow this winter because my porch roof doesn’t look like it can take the pressure, and worried about the furnace, wondering if I was enough for anything or anyone, and the thoughts kept whirling in my head, -- I prayed for Peace. My thoughts went to that small family in the manger, “no crib for his bed”, and imagined what they would be thinking. Would they concentrate on the conditions of the manger or just be grateful to have shelter?  I wondered of all mother’s and father’s who were lonely this Christmas, that felt that they would let their kids down because they couldn’t get them the latest i-product or whatever it is they had been asking for. I thought of all the mother’s and father’s who did buy things that they really couldn’t afford and were lying awake at night wondering how to get pass this Christmas.  Like the Shepherds in the fields, sometimes life is dark and lonely, even on Christmas night.  We have to see the Light, that only God can send us, and follow it, no matter how difficult the journey -- that leads us to Jesus, quietly sleeping in His mother’s arms, surrounded by Love, waiting for us to be present.  “What do I have to give the King?” asked one of the Shepherds, and the other replied, “We can give him our faith.” (There is nothing like a Christmas pageant when you hear these words spoken by children and you can really get it!)  I fell asleep with the thoughts of Jesus and the prayer of so many lonely souls that night.

But I awoke wanting to be silent.  No inspiration to write about anything.

I spent much time during the holiday, reading and watching movies, spending time with Noah and playing some board games. The time went by way too quickly as I am sure you can agree.

Then it came to me, as I sat in Sunday Mass this past weekend – one line that changed my spirit – “Mary kept these things, reflecting on them in her heart.”  My quiet Christmas made sense, it is ok, to take it all in and quietly reflect on them, that there is time to be quiet and time to speak, and both are ok.  And I was able to be so grateful for all that I saw this holiday season. I was able to dig up the manual for the furnace and begin to understand how they work, and what all the buttons are for; and for a moment, I stopped, all the anxiety of what I think the world should be like, and as Noah and I were looking at the planets through his telescope on a very cold, clear night (the night sky has been full of entertainment the last few weeks!), I thought of those Shepherds and Wise men, who had been called to leave the familiar and search for the origin of a star, and there they would find Love.

I believe that nothing happens by coincidence; this past summer, as Noah was starting to become attracted to stars and planets, black holes and galaxies, we attended Creation Fest, in which Louis Giglio spoke of God’s Magical Symphony – the sounds of God’s creation, even stars, praising the Creator. It was an awesome presentation. I ran into Sam’s a couple days before Christmas, and as I was quickly passing the book section, heading toward the frozen foods, something caught my eye, it was a small paperback book, by Louie Giglio entitled “Indescribable” and I thought, “Hey this is the guy this summer!” And I got it to give to Noah for Christmas, because his love of the night sky was increased by the presentation of this guy.  Noah was very excited, and I got to see that twinkle! (And it wasn’t even an i-product!) and within a couple of days Noah had finished the book, and when I asked him how the book was, he replied, “Indescribable Mom!” But he wanted to share one thing he learned about with me and it not only, brought things into prospective, it connected all the dots from my Christmas experience-- it is a video done by Carl Sagan, describing this “Pale Blue Dot” we live on and I want to share it with you. Perhaps it will help all of us keep things in perspective in 2012 and really understand that God is BIG and we are small, and when we get caught up in something that feels life or death, and it really isn’t, remember our size in the big scheme of things, and why not do the right thing whatever the consequences and stop living in fear, because our time is less than a fraction of a second, and people are suffering because of our own inflated sense of self importance as the collective “us” refuse to see the big, big, big picture God sees.  To keep things in perspective is my prayer for myself, for you and for all the world in 2012.

Feast Day of St. Nicholas

Today we celebrate the Feast Day of St. Nicholas, the patron Saint of Russia and an Arch Bishop. There are many stories of St. Nicholas and if you ask most children, it is a Saint that they have heard of, almost taking the throne of Christmas, despite the fact that Christmas really is the birth of our Savior. I wonder what St. Nicholas would think about the adaptation of his role in Christmas. As I researched St. Nicholas I was struck by one particular story.

Throughout his life St. Nicholas retained the bright and guileless manners of his early years, and showed himself to be the special protector of the innocent and the wronged. Nicholas once heard that a person who had fallen into poverty intended to abandon his three daughters for a life of sin. Determined that this would not happen, he went out during the night, and taking with him a bag of gold, flung it into the window of the sleeping father and hurried off. He, on awakening, deemed the gift a godsend, and with it dowered his eldest child.  It seemed that St. Nicholas was pleased at how this went, and returned to help with the next daughter, but this time the father was watching and waiting and saw where the bag of gold came from. The father, in such gratitude, fell at the feet of St. Nicholas and asked him why he had concealed himself from the man and thanked him for delivering himself and his daughters from hell.

The stories of St. Nicholas, as varied as they are, show us that we must work for justice; but what is justice when the word is used more about revenge and “getting even”. Justice for all people is really about making sure that the person standing next to us, or across the globe receives exactly what God would want for them. Do we ever think of what God would want to the person we are dealing with? This time of year, in 2011, giving poses quite a problem. Yes, we are in the giving and receiving mode, or at least we think we are. We struggle and sometimes even get into debt or ignore responsibilities because we want to get someone some “thing”, but when we think of what God would want for the person that we are exchanging gifts with, does it equal out to a new iPod or iPhone, or some other material item? St. Nicholas was the one who would stand up for those who are innocent and wronged, haven’t we all been wronged by the incessant message this time of year that “things” will make us happy, or “things” will make our children happy? We all know that most of us need nothing, and we long for the time when the spirit of Christmas was different. Recently I was speaking with someone and they were handed a “wish list” from their parents!!  There is something wrong about that to me. While we are in need of no-thing, we are desperately in need of meaning, of love and understanding, none of which can be bought at your local Wal-mart!

This time of year, we should be thinking of how to get our lives in prospective. While we are in the dark, we can only see shadows and so we make up our own reality. Let us commit to awaiting the light that only Jesus can bring, and then we will see life as it truly is; with the bright light we will be able to see ourselves and others as God sees us.  Like St. Nicholas, let us take on the role of protector of the innocent and the wronged and allow Jesus to be seen this Christmas. Let us put down the credit card, and give of ourselves to one another this Christmas.