Counting our way to Christmas

by Sarah Nyhan

Have you been counting your way through Advent?  How have you measured out the time?  In Sundays, and candles lit on an Advent wreath?  In tiny windows on an Advent calendar, opened to reveal a picture or candy on the inside?  Or have other numbers entered into the process?

Perhaps your season is measured by the number of holiday concerts, parties and other events you are committed to attend.  Maybe you have counted the number of cards to be addressed, or the number of gifts left to buy.  Have you counted the number of trips to the mall or Target, or the number of receipts piling up in your wallet?  Is the time measured out by how many more batches of cookies you will be able to bake before the annual cookie swap, or how long it will take to finish cleaning and decorating the house?

Time might be measured in another way too.  Perhaps you are counting the number of years, or months, or days that a loved one has been gone.  You might be counting the number of doctor’s visits that are being scheduled, the number of tests being ordered, and the number of calls to make.  You might be looking at the checkbook balance again, or counting out the money in the change jar to try to figure out how the food for Christmas dinner will be paid for – or the rent, or the car payment.

Time is a difficult concept for children.  Waiting is so very hard, and the season is such a jumble of excitement, disappointment, happiness and tears.  We build it all up so much, and talk of remembering the “reason for the season” – but do we live it out?  And as we grow older – well, to say that time flies would be an understatement.  Christmas does not sneak up on us.  It comes at the same time each year with plenty of warning, yet we still may feel as though the time to prepare is slipping through our hands like so many grains of sand.

So how can we make what is left of Advent a little brighter?  How can we stop measuring out the days and hours in material items and tasks crossed off a list?  Where is that joy?  Perhaps letting go of expectations would be a good place to start.  Give up on being filled with the Christmas Spirit and instead ask God to allow us to be filled with the Holy Spirit.  Give up on shouldering all of the burdens ourselves and ask for help – from others and from God.  Give up on exceeding expectations and instead ask God to allow us to do our best.  Give up on pleasing everyone, and instead ask God to open our eyes to quiet ways that we can please Him – by offering a smile, holding a door, giving a hug, saying “thank you”, and truly looking for goodness around us.

The countdown to Christmas is nearly ended, yet the time God offers us has no endpoint.  The ending and the beginning constantly intertwine, and continue on without failing.  God will give us the time that we need, if we can just stop counting long enough to be present to it.