No matter how hard I try to lower my standards and minimize stress, the merry Christmas season is more tiring than peaceful.
Sure, it’s fun to choose surprising gifts, and to decorate the house with coloured lights, candles and crèches. There are exquisite concerts and moments of awe at the incarnation story. Time spent with family, friends and neighbours is rich with laughter and love.
But still the intense celebration makes for an after-effect of fatigue.
I was glad to find the video below, where a baby adds her voice to her Mom’s, as Francesca Battistelli sings a song that imagines Mary singing to baby Jesus. (apologies for the abrupt deejay’s patter when the song ends…but it’s sort of another life metaphor)
The song, along with the baby herself, reminded me that the excesses of what we call “Christmas” have little to do with the best news ever.
No matter what 2014 brings, we are not alone in a mindless universe!
Despite life’s frustrating questions, despite our despairing “Why?”, we can choose to hold onto the hand reaching out to us in Jesus.
