Every time Christmas comes along, Charlie Brown is burdened with his inability to decorate his Christmas tree. Snoopy wins awards for decorating the doghouse while Charlie Brown gazes forlornly at his poorly decorated tree. It is so easy to identify with him.
I truly did not really notice that it was the first of December until a few minutes ago. I saw the date for today and uttered a pious phrase or a less pious phrase. Tomorrow begins the first week of Advent. So things are starting to rapidly get in gear for the celebration of Christmas. My thoughts turned immediately to things that I have to get done right away for Christmas. The gifts for Christmas in a Box are due tomorrow by noon and i have not gotten them. I have also not ordered my Christmas cards which will take a few days to arrive. And a bunch of other things which came instantly to mind that are not done, not complete, and, in some cases, are not even on my radar screen, but they should be.
Advent and our preparation for Christmas is meant to be a peaceful time of preparation. Well, the quiet peace may not happen. The preparation has to happen because it is rather job-related in my line of work. In a parish, it is just not acceptable to share that, golly, we're just not ready for Christmas in the parish because things have been so busy. Not a position of strength.
So what to do? I'm going to take some deep breaths and calm myself. I'm going to use far more list-making then memory to prioritize the things that I have to do. I'm going to make sure that I have time scheduled in when I'm going to be still and try, even for a few minutes, to connect in this season. I'm going to also schedule time each day to pray for people that are really struggling. The things I've scheduled are not optional. I'm making them my priorities. And just possibly, doing this will calm me down as it gets closer to Christmas. I never recall reaching Christmas without exhaustion. I'm going to see if doing something different may give me a different ending point. What the heck, it can't hurt. Maybe it might even be of some assistance to you! Come, Come, Emmanuel - Please and do so quietly and peacefully.
TODAY'S GRATITUDE - Being willing to try a different approach in getting ready for Christmas.