“It’s a Wonderful Life”
The Christmas season is a very busy time for most people. It involves hosting or attending parties and participating in special holiday activities and…a lot of shopping! This requires some detailed scheduling, planning and precision implimentation for our celebration to be complete. We have our calendars filled out to the minute and our “To Do” lists at the ready! Not to mention our “Gift List”…naughty and nice!
Yes, navigating the crowds, the traffic, the schedules, and all the “Yuletide” pressure can be overwhelming and…if things do not go according to plan…frustrating. We can observe this in the face of the shopper who just found out that the perfect gift was sold out. The driver who got to the program on time but it was the wrong day. The family tree decorating that resulted in a fight over a favorite ornament (yes, it can happen). You see, we each have another list that we carry. It may be written down but it is usually kept in our hearts and unspoken. It is the list of our expectations of what needs to happen for our Christmas to be the most meaningful. It is often revealed after things go a little differently than we planned.
“Why didn’t anyone tell me they didn’t like ham?” “This has been on the calendar for weeks!” “Christmas eve is always the 24th of December!” “I was just hoping that we could just have…” And the list comes out.
All of us have expectations and hopes for the holidays. There is nothing wrong with that. In fact, it is part of the anticipation of the season. But, there is the temptation for us to hold so tightly to our “lists” that we miss the unexpected joys present in the midst of the chaos. This is the moment when we can become the one who brings the holiday train to a screeching halt.
In the movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life”, a series of unexpected…unplanned events change the direction of George Bailey’s life. He sacrifices his plan to go to school so that his brother can go…he cannot go to war due to a bad ear…he doesn’t get out of his small town because he is persuaded to stay and save his father’s business…and the “list” goes on or, in his case, gets rewritten.
For George Bailey, unfulfilled expectations for his life became a spiral into desparation and disappointment. It took an angel named Clarence to get him to see that life may not go exactly as you plan or expect but it is wonderful all the same.
That was certainly true for Mary and Joseph that first Christmas. Away from home…sleeping in a stable…a baby born…before a proper wedding. Wrong place…wrong time…the “List” is out the window. Not what we planned. But, what a wonderful moment!
Look around today. There is something happening that is not on your list. Don’t get frustrated. Embrace it as a new twist to your already wonderful life.
Merry Christmas!