Finally started the Christmas to-do list during my lunch break and after
comparing prices online, weighing important decisions like reverent Christmas card vs.
irreverent Christmas letter, realizing that my daughter is an XS not an S (so much for
that great Nike deal I scored), planning when to bake dozens of cookies,
reviewing our social calendar and charitable commitments, peeking at the credit
card statement, and...well soon enough, I could foretell bankruptcy on the horizon in the time,
talent and treasure accounts (somewhere to the left of the Bethlehem
Star).
It was in this holiday spirit, a co-worker presented me with a problem to solve. I wasn't particularly in the mood for visitors at that moment but in his defense, I had forgotten to hang my "No Room at the Inn" on my door. And so a poorly-timed interruption turned any remaining dreams of half-rotten sugar plums into dreams of strangling the
air out of his lungs, someone who for the most part I like when I'm not preparing for the birth of my savior.
Hmm, I don’t think
this is what the heavenly angels were harking (or hawking). As I
boiled over, I remembered one of my favorite bloggers, Ann Voskamp, and
her Love Comes Down Advent series. This is a portion of her take on Christmas
to-do lists –
Whenever Christmas begins to burden, it’s a sign that I’ve taken on something of the world and not of Christ. Any weight in Christmas has to be of this world. Christ came into this world as grace to lift all the weighty burdens.
Christ the Babe comes to us in Christmas as Christ the Savior comes to us on the Cross — seeking only our embrace.
I look over my list on the counter. What if I laid down efforts and expectations, perfectionism and performance? What if I breathed deep and simply waited with arms and heart and eyes wide open? What if Christmas was the season to let go of to-do lists adding up — to receive what’s coming down?
I look over my list on the counter. Christmas, it isn’t a product to wrap but a Person to unwrap. What is keeping me today from receiving him?
I look over my list on the counter. Christmas, it can’t be bought. It cannot be created. It cannot be made by hand. Christmas can only be found. Where am I looking for Christ today?
