As I drape their garlands, and trim their trees with all sorts of baubles and sparkles and ribbons and shine, I turn my phone soft to soothing Jazz Christmas tunes and hum along. “It’s that time of year, when the world falls in love. Every song you hear, seems to say, Merry Christmas…”
One smiled curious and asked, “Where’s that music coming from?”
Grinning, I promptly pulled the music from my hip pocket.
“Oh, it follows wherever you go,” she laughs softly, “Great idea.”
I thought so.
I can’t watch the news.
I have clients who keep CNN and FOX news wailing twenty-four-seven.
Not me, nope, can’t do it.
So I didn’t confess I was blocking out the depressing stories, the heartbreaking trauma, the evil splayed in the forefront of angry chaos and dissension.
The world I live in but refuse to be sucked into,
The world I walk through but cling tenacious to the hand pierced for me.
Maybe denial is good at times.
Aware yes, but to dwell on the friction and fret in angst…NO!
My small world has enough pain without taking on the land-sliding worries of global problems woven by less than perfect leaders and ongoing wars and hate tsunamis.
A ruler sized baby fighting for her life. Each breath precious in that fragile one pound body.
The loved one with cancer eating gluttonous as dark curtains descend in ultimate finality.
The marriages fractured and broken, discarded heavy in despair with our hearts twisted and torn as we watch helpless.
A bus driver gone mad in his alleged last statement to a frightened load of children, “Are ya’ll ready to die?” Horrifying in intent. Devastating in his success.
Policemen randomly shot, as if more killing can somehow bring an end to an unfair tilted mindset.
But he knew what my world would be, he came for all this.
He the gift.
He the rescuer and savior.
He came for me, to give me hope and peace in my despair.
In that stable poor, his tiny hand waved, and his smile brought joy to a young mother unsure and afraid. And he stabilizes me the same, centuries later, unsure and afraid.
And there it is, my word of the day: Heartsease=Peace of mind
I love that.
My Lord and my God are my heartsease, the key to my state of mind, my mood-anchor in a world of discord,
My courage to be thankful as I peel away the problems and worries and woes to find the thankful and focus on the gift of a savior born innocent and tiny, into a broken world.
And in this Christmas season as our world suddenly remembers him, I give thanks to God for the blessed one who was born common and lived unbeloved and died despised…
For a desperate-without-him, but immensely grateful me.
“Here is what love is.
It is not that we loved God.
It is that he loved us and sent his Son to give his life to pay for our sins.” I John 4:10 NIRV