Winter comes. It does this every year, I know. It's done so exactly 20 times from the moment I was born.
But there's something different about this year, a subtle yet profound shift in thought which makes me all the more aware of the changes taking hold of the earth around me.
Trees once arrayed in fine gold are losing their splendour now, silhouetted against skies of ice-grey. Around me songs of winter romance and bright, glistening promises of cementing every relationship in my life with the purchase of some thing, any thing, swirl like fallen leaves in the biting wind. Though bright and beautiful, with no access to roots, they are nonetheless dead.
In winter, at least to me, the pain of loss must be so very acute. I don't yet know that pain, though it nips closer and closer at my heels each year. As of yet I only know the pain of separation...but it's more than enough for now. Perhaps it is more piercing this year because I have no way to drown it. Outside my own solemn thoughts cash registers clink and lights blink to mark this Exmuss season that occurs between Thanksgiving and December 25th.
But it is not Christmas yet. Counting today, four Sundays will pass between now and then.
Today the color is purple. Now is the time to make up my mind what I shall be in the coming year. Now is the time to divest myself of what I've done these two decades that has wrought ill. Now I and others wait, prepare, pray, allowing our joy to swell until it bursts.
And then it will be Christmas, and it will remain so for us long after the stores have cleared away the wire reindeer to prematurely put out the heart-shaped boxes of chocolate. (Which, if I recall correctly, is usually about December 27th.)
Though those who know me wouldn't believe for a second that I'm not busy ordering the last of my gifts, or making preparations for gingerbread and cookies and pies.
So have a blessed Advent, my friends, and may Christmas find you surrounded by all those you love.
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Hello and welcome! This blog deals with many aspects of my daily life, from the sweet and silly to the sad and stressful. And like any blogger, I CRAVE feedback.
There will be times when this blog deals with weighty issues of doctrine and theology. I welcome various differing opinions and believe civil, healthy debate is a good thing. However, if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all, as the saying goes, and I will defend the Church if She comes under attack. Thank you for understanding. :-)