What moments will you be facing this Christmas? Moments with family, moments by yourself, moments in malls, moments with deadlines? The holiday season is a mixed bag of busyness, expectations, parties, delicacies, gift giving, relationships and family- Some good, some bad, and some down-right ugly (like this year’s attempt at the first batch of Christmas Candy.)
But I wonder what Christmas would be like if we could breath through each moment. If we could settle ourselves enough to enjoy, to take in, and to let go. The definition of enjoy is “to experience with joy; take pleasure in.” What if we could enjoy each moment of the Christmas experience this year? What if we could “take pleasure” in Christmas and from Christmas?
To enjoy an experience, one must make themselves a participant instead of an observer. To take pleasure in Christmas, one must be willing to reach out and take something. If we don’t take pleasure in and from Christmas, it’s likely to just plop itself right on top of us! The hub-bub, the pressure, the shopping, the expectations- all the things that we make Christmas to be, is likely to kill us!
But, if we take a moment to breath, to let go of the weight on our shoulders, to engage the wonder of Whose birth we celebrate, we will find that enjoyment is the only response required.
If we stop. If we breath. If we lean into the Giver of all Good Things, we will rest. We will see. We will enjoy. We will take from the pleasure that is available to us.
Being in the Moment this Christmas means accepting hardships as the pathway to peace. It means letting go of what isn’t, so we can say thank you for what is. It means to depend all the deeper on the God of Love. It means to engage our moments fully. In the mall. In the lines. In the car. In the bar. Listening to your uncle’s story for the 52nd time at Christmas dinner. In the laughter, and in the tears. In the loneliness and in the loss.
Being in the Moment means to leave regret in the past, and worry to the future. It means shutting the door on guilt, pity and bitterness because they are joy-killers and moment-stealers. Being in the Moment means peace.
Be in the Moment this Christmas, and invite your whole self to be there too. Meet Love there. Enjoy each other. Breath.
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