| The cure to your blues is found in a moment. We watch our lives go by, and we segment them into periods of time. We revel in “happy” periods, and constantly look for the light at the end of “sad” ones. But life can’t be experienced in periods, only a single moment at a time. We become obsessed with our sad periods, and make ourselves incapable of seeing the joy of a moment. Winning a board game with your sister, wrapping a gift that took hours of effort and thought, watching “Love Actually” with a glass of eggnog while the rest of the house is silent with anticipation of Christmas morning. And this is a perfect moment….
I just finished watching the “Holy Name Catholic Church of Chicago”’s midnight mass on television. It was depressing to see what Christmas had become, not what Catholicism has made it, but what we all have made it. We started 2,005 years ago with a raggedy barn in the middle of nothing, and ended with 10 ft pure golden crosses. We started with rags around a baby, and ended with stunningly embroidered robes. I started with the gift of Grace and Salvation, and now all I think of on Christmas Eve is the X-Box 360 sitting under a fake tree… But I went outside to jump in the Hot Tub before bed, and I was greeted by the most beautiful snowfall I had seen in years, a White Christmas. I sat in the Tub for as long as I could stand, watching the snow fall on frozen branches and the streetlight that was randomly placed in our backyard. I always hated that streetlight, but right now it’s perfect, it looks just like Narnia (Lantern Waste). I really would have loved for someone to share this moment and these thoughts with me outside, but then I would have no reason to write them here. I won’t try to describe it any further, but it was a perfect moment.
That’s pretty much it, Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.
PS - I didn’t really get an X-Box 360, so don’t try coming over here tomorrow to play or anything, and if you’re my roommate, keep your fingers crossed on “The Big Red One”. |
