Goodbye Ebenezer

Sometimes it happens the day after Thanksgiving and sometimes it happens the week before Christmas but without fail, every year I have a “moment”.  A moment wherein I am so overwhelmed by the season and the tasks and the to-dos that I feel very near a nervous breakdown.  I have a picture in my head of how everything is supposed to be and it’s absolutely perfect and when reality falls short, I want to pull out my hair and throw it at someone. 

I know, I’m really showing my inner Ebenezer Scrooge here.  I know I’m supposed to have all the warm fuzzies and my head full of jingle bells right now but I’m currently in the middle of this year’s “moment”. 

I just took two of my kids to Target two Saturdays before Christmas, so they could each pick out a gift for their brother.  I left with my own version of a hearty “bah-humbug!”. 

You see, I don’t want to be at Target on a Saturday, ever, or a Walmart or any super store, really yet there I was with the “active” two of my kids trying to figure out the subtle differences between the quarter of a million transformer toys before me while trying to explain the reason for sticking to a budget.  On a normal day that’s a challenge. 

The thing is every single individual human in the mid-cities area along with their cousin, toddler, little dog and over flowing shopping carts slowly plodded before us as we tried to choose from the selection.  They’d idle in front of each object that sits on the shelf in front of us that we were clearly trying to asses as I muttered “excuse ME’s” and squeezed my face into the closest thing I could to a smile; a strained, awkward, mutilated grin, the only thing I can achieve when I haven’t had coffee since 0800 and the temperature of the store’s thermostat is set to “ Dante’s fourth circle Hell”.  When sweat begins to glisten on my upper lip and ruin my “cozy winter look” I’m far from perky. 

So many people.  People everywhere.  In the aisles, in the parking lots, on the streets, in the restaurants, in the drive through lanes.  So many stressed, grouchy people. 

Ya’ll need to know I like people in general on an individual basis, but boy do I hate crowds. 

Then, there was the traffic outside of Target.  All those people pile into separate cars and try to navigate the roadways while playing on their smart phones.  Ok, maybe that’s unfair.  Maybe they’re not playing maybe they’re looking up directions to the next store on their list but still. 

We’re all going mad.  We’re all scrambling around trying to make this holiday perfect.  We’re buying all the things and going all the places and there is just so much stress and pressure. 

For those of you that enjoy all that hub-bub this post is obviously not for you. 

If you’re like me, you might end up searching for the meaning of it all.  I see all those people honking at each other and fuming from within their vehicles in traffic and I just can’t help but wonder why?  Why are we doing this to ourselves?  Why do we have to have all the stocking stuffers?  Why are we running around town with such an urgency? 

It just seems so silly, the stress of it all.  I know people who go into debt over buying things for not only their kids but distant relatives they don’t even talk to or see because they feel obligated.  Why?? 

Why am I buying my kids stuff when I know full well they’re pretty much spoiled as it is?  Why do we have to over eat this time every single year?  Why the guilt?  Why the pressure?  What’s the point?

I could go on and on, but the thing is as I ask “why?” in my yearly “moment” I just have to pause.  I must slow down, take a breath and just calm the heck down.  This is usually when I start up my Dr. Pepper habit again.

The thing is there are a lot of people in this world who are hurting right now.  There are a lot of people feeling the pressure of the season or the sadness it brings because of something that has happened to them or something they’re going through. 

It’s not all jingle bells and sleigh rides for everybody. 

I think our holiday panic, our stress, the urgency comes from an innate need for Jesus.  At first glance, that’s kind of comical because BOY do I need some Jesus when I’m at Target on a Saturday two weeks before Christmas. 

It’s true on a much deeper level. 

Regardless of whether or not this is a year you could afford all the stuff, whether you decorated with all the things or sang all the carols.  Maybe this is the year you’re struggling, maybe you’ve had a really rough go.  Regardless of all of that, we need Jesus.  We are all reaching out for Peace; a kind of comfort that holds us and keeps us despite what we are going through good or bad. 

When the angel proclaimed Jesus’ birth to the Shepherds he said, “Don’t be afraid.  I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.  Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.” (Luke 2:10-11). 

Ya’ll, that is fantastic new to us too!  No matter the current turmoil, no matter the current jubilation, we are SAVED.  We have a truth that is tangible and that we can cling to with our whole being happy or no, stressed or calm and always IMPERFECT. 

Doubtless we will all experience a slightly different season this year.  We will have good times and we will have bad.  That’s just the nature of living. 

In my “moment”, every year, this is what I realize.  We are not alone.  We are not simply a crazed crowd of Holiday junkies trying to get it all right.  We are celebrating, in our good times and our bad that a Savior is born. 

That fact makes me more tolerant of the crowd, more forgiving of myself when things aren’t perfect and joyful even in suffering.   It’s all going to be okay because He came to live with us and died for us all.