I hope you and yours had a very special Christmas holiday. This year has been very different with some folks missing family gatherings due to sickness, but it has still been a very full Christmas in all senses of the word.
I played a show the other night and incorporated some Christmas songs in the set (a first for me) and even debuted an original Christmas song (another first for me). We hosted my wife’s knitting crew, went to multiple family gatherings, and even attended multiple Christmas services.
So, yeah, it’s been full.
I love to watch children open presents at Christmastime. They are full of expectation and fully in the moment. Oftentimes the sheer act of opening the present is just as exciting for them as the gift inside.
Getting them to wait patiently to open the gifts, however, is another story.
We like to open things.
Doors.
Gifts.
Hearts.
Minds.
Christmas invites us to consider that God opens too. During Advent we wait expectantly for openings of hope, love, joy, and peace in the world around us. As John’s gospel poetically puts it, “the true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.”
The Christmas story reminds us of how the light gets in through the cracks, of how God is creating openings in this world.
Some folks see these openings while others fail to notice. But these openings are all around us: things like light and courage and hope and kindness and wisdom and forgiveness and big-heartedness. Millions of doors across the world are just barely cracked and waiting to be opened.
What new thing is waiting to be opened? What’s keeping you from opening it more fully?
The other side of the door can be scary. It may also contain our healing.
I’ll close with a prayer/poem by Howard Thurman for all those places in your life waiting to be opened.
Lord, open unto me by Howard Thurman Open unto me—light for my darkness Open unto me—courage for my fear Open unto me—hope for my despair Open unto me—peace for my turmoil Open unto me—joy for my sorrow Open unto me—strength for my weakness Open unto me—wisdom for my confession Open unto me—forgiveness for my sins Open unto me—love for my hates Open unto me—they Self for my self
