Thanksgiving… warm mash potatoes where butter melts down your plate that matches the conversation around the table.
Advent… four weeks of anticipating the simplicity of the Christmas Story. Twinkle of candle light and the Word of God pronounced in our churches weaving its way into our hearts like a golden thread.
Christmas… Music rings forth over the radio, “Hark how the Bells, sweet silver bells” Snowflakes float down on sidewalks covering people clad in red and green as they wonder at the lights on trees.
New Years… 3 2 1… Happy New Year! A new year dawns as we celebrate the close of 2010.Celebration…. this season is FILLED with opportunities to celebrate, to fill your home with warm hot chocolate and sweet fellowship, to offer a smile on the street or to the grouch in the office, to fill our churches with the sound of sweet blessings to reflect the Christ Child.
What child is this who laid to rest? The child that would be Jesus, Messiah, name above all names, Blessed Redeemer, Immanuel, God with us. As we enter this Advent Season I invite you to celebrate with a passion that fills your inner spirit so that all may see outwardly the light and love this Christ Child brings.
Celebrate with your students laughing over white elephant gifts while singing Christmas Carols. Celebrate by finding the simplicity in the Christmas Story in your own life and bringing that light to your students this Advent Season.
As each holiday draws nearer, before we know, it in a blink of an eye, it will be gone. Find moments to celebrate and capture memories that will linger throughout your life and in your ministry. Something I started a couple of years ago was taking “mental snapshots”. If there was an extraordinary moment that I wish I had my camera for, I would call out “Capture the moment”. At first the students were surprised by my abrupt halt and the ringing out of this phrase, but after a few times when the key words were called out, silence would fall on our group and you could almost hear everyone take in a deep breath and capture the moment, fully celebrating the gift of that moment captured in time.
In the season of Christmastide, find time to Celebrate in big and small ways and stop every now and again in the midst of the celebration and call out “Capture the Moment”.
