Wake Me Up When December's Gone

I'm guessing that's the unspoken plea of thousands, maybe millions.

Most of us really hope that this Christmas will be different. That this year, we'll experience a deeper sense of ministry and love. I need the hope to become an intention, or else happenstance will determine the movements for me. And that just leaves me with the experience of having missed the chance to live more fully. Just to survive, we could surrender to the "this too shall pass" approach, but dangling by a thread is not conducive to any measure of abundant life.

The dance of ministry these some sixty days requires more than looking with resignation to the surrealistic schedule of events. The grueling demands of the season are framed as always, by the unplanned crisis that can turn life on a dime. So the case is stronger to make some choices, if I haven't already done so. What do I need to receive from the loving Holy Trinity? Is there one activity or practice that I can engage in a way that will equip me to receive this continuing gift?

The joy of a deepening spiritual life in community is what brought us here! Yet, when we open that door today, we might find a dark, cold, and damp room, very much like the night of Scrooge's own ghostly time travel. However we have gotten to this point of wake me up when it's 2012, whether it's the dirge-like refrain of more and more results of the Ecclesiastical Ebenezer-s, or our own turning away from the one, the only Lord and Giver of Life, the choice is ours to do something about it.

Choose a book you want to read to just enjoy this season. Journal your Advent-Epiphany days. Write down your intentions in the journal. Go out and hear some live music, Christmas concert, or see a performance. See some great art. Enjoy an evening with your family. Visit, reconnect with a home-bound person. Take time out with a friend. Look into finding a spiritual director, someone you can visit with confidentially about your spiritual life and ministry.

You cannot share what you do not receive, and everything we have we have first received. (I Corinthians 4:7) Receive the Lord, your King! The Lord bless your spirit.