image credit: scottfeldstein
Family, Friends, Followers, and those I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting:
Happy Xmas.
So this is Christmas / And what have you done? / Another year over / And a new one just begun
It’s strange to me how Lennon and Ono’s protest is now a Christmas standard, covered by everyone from The Fray to Diana Ross. The words flow out easy for me, but the meaning has eroded a bit, worn by familiarity.
I guess in some ways Christmas feels worn too.
We mark time in the passing of years, one fading silently into the next. As we scratch another tally in the column of our mortal existence, we ask ourselves, “what have we done?”
With a gingerbread latte in hand, we wrap ourselves in blankets of nostalgia until we feel warm and safe.
A very merry Christmas / And a happy New Year / Let’s hope it’s a good one / Without any fear
In the midst of our traditions and of our stories of Christmases past, we look to the future with hope for something better to come. Maybe next year the economy will rebound. Maybe next year the politicians will get something done. Maybe next year there will be peace on earth.
Filled with hope, we swear resolutions for ourselves: Next year I will lose 20 pounds. Next year I won’t work so much. Next year I will spend more time with my family. Next year I will enjoy life more.
I’ll finally start my own business.
I’ll quit drinking.
I’ll get out of debt.
I’ll learn French.
Or Spanish.
I’ll get organized.
I’ll find the time to help others.
But we know that by the time Christmas comes around again, we’ll have forgotten all those resolutions.
And we know that our lack of accomplishment won’t bother us next December. As we pen our holiday letters, we’ll settle for meticulously recounting any event that’s risen slightly above the mundane.
War is over / If you want it / War is over / Now
This time of year we’re all called to take the form of Janus, to grow an extra face so that we can at once project and reflect.
This simultaneous gaze on the past and future blurs our focus on the present. More specifically, to the choices we make in the present.
When Lennon and Ono wrote “Happy Xmas”, the war wasn’t over.
But it could have been, if we wanted it to be.
Our own lives are not so different. We choose every day whom to love. Whom to hate. Whom to ignore. With whom to try more. With whom to try less.
The original Christmas story was not that different either—it’s about a God who chose to leave the comfort of heaven to be born in a stable. It’s about a God who said to humanity, “I choose you.”
But regardless what you believe, every day we have the opportunity to say to our spouses, our children, our friends, “Today I choose you. Today I choose to love you.”
We can choose whether or not to speak the words.
We can choose to end wars.
We can choose to forgive those who have hurt us.
We can choose to spend more time with the people we love.
We can choose to help someone else.
Not for Christmas’ sake. Not for resolutions’s sake. Just for today. Just for right now.
So Happy Xmas
This Christmas I’m choosing to focus on right now. On today.
Today I’m choosing to love my wife more than my work. Today I’m choosing to spend more time with my friends and my family and less time with my laptop.
Today I’m choosing what is good over what is profitable.
Just one day at a time.
So merry Christmas to you and yours, no matter what you choose.
All my very best,
Andrew
Image credit: scottfeldstein on Flickr. See original for copyright information.
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