As the world is moving through December,

there’s a shifting in the way one sees the days.

There’s a call to give more generously

and an openness to see the world more widely.

When children wave from evacuation buses halfway across the world

and men carry newborn babies over heaps of rubble,

both eyes and hearts can’t help but be propped wide open.

There’s this loveliest of Christmas trees twinkling proud at the front window

- an angel standing proud and tall on top.

The nativity pieces are all placed on the mantel perfect

and holly and Christmas cactus fill spaces with green and red.

We spend our evenings with candles and readings,

helping our hearts prepare for the celebration.

But this year it hasn’t been so much about the preparing,

as simply considering the waiting.

Thinking on emptying oneself, so that one can be filled,

considering the fasting before the feast.

Waiting instead of working.

Waiting, “expectante” in the Latin form, is not a passive verb,

it’s a verb of hope.

There’s an expectancy associated with it

and a preparation required through it

- not of planning, but of preparing,

setting things in place and order,

being ready to accept what comes.

It’s about not rushing through, but lingering longer,

and recognizing that it is in the lingering where the gift is found.

{This obscure verse crossed my path in my readings. No real pine tree sitting in our home this year, but maybe some cones will find their way as a centerpiece.}

You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace ... 

Instead of the thornbush will grow the pine tree. 

~ Isaiah 55:12-13

Wishing sweet family and friends a loveliest of Christmases this year! ~ The Holders