Let’s set the scene.
It’s dark. It’s cold. The sky is clear, and you can see the stars above you, but as a result, the air is crisp and fresh.
You’re standing on a hillside, huddling closer around a fire with your colleagues, in an attempt to keep warm. Sort of picture penguins grouping together, and how they rotate who is on the outside. Just this time, the people on the outside are looking outwards, watching out over the hillside.
Wow, life is busy at the moment. It feels like a real challenge to even find time to stop and write this, but I’ve set myself a challenge, and I’m determined to complete it. Today marks the start of a really busy week, more so than normal in the lead up to Christmas. I’m out every night, there’s more than one thing happening each day, and it just feels extremely full-on.
Now, I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who’s got calendars or diaries that look vaguely similar to the description above; part of me thinks that’s just part of Christmas. However, I’m not sure that’s healthy, especially for a prolonged period of time.
In my mind, Christmas is definitely a time for singing. I mean, I will happily sing all year round, but there is something special about singing at Christmas. Maybe because the traditions of carols go far back, or because no matter what genre of music is your favourite, you’ll still know the words to all the Christmas ‘classics’, and no one minds belting them out.
I think the tag line of today’s post could be:
“I want to put CHRIST back into Christmas”
And that goes beyond just myself, but ultimately, for the world to recognise the truth of Christmas.
In the run up to Christmas, it can be very easy to keep focused solely on our own lives, and get caught up in a personal whirlwind. While this can be expected: it’s one of the busiest times of the year, perhaps today you’d like to stop for a little while, and think about something a little different.
I’m going to be honest here, and say that there are some days where I really struggle with getting up in the morning. It can be a real difficulty – and I wake up with an entirely ‘upside-down’ mind-set, which can very often plague me for the rest of the day (or at least until I’ve properly woken up, usually one or two cups of tea down). On these days, where I’d much rather be curled up in bed in a duvet cocoon, I really have to challenge myself about my attitude.
We cannot deny that we live in a material-driven culture. I would probably go as far to say that many are material-obsessed. It’s all about the ‘latest’, whether in technology, fashion, beauty or anything else that streaks across the commercial world. We can’t escape the latest fad, and the advertising world comes into full force in the run up to Christmas (which is apparently as early as September).
But, let’s imagine we could. Just take a step outside the world of adverts, and think about Christmas without gifts.
