“The giver of every good and perfect gift has called upon us to mimic
St. Nicholas of Myra
His giving, by grace, through faith, and this is not of ourselves.”
I got halfway through writing this Climb when I thought better of it and started over. I’ve been rather critical of the cheap secularization of Christmas lately and was leaning into that for this edition however, prudence calls for peace in honor of the Prince of Peace. I’ll save the critique for another time.
I think another take comes from a moment I had two nights ago – we had brought up some of the Christmas gear and the kids were really excited about it. They wanted to help but really it was too much. Each box was opened and tossed around, fragile ornaments flipped and flopped, lots of giddy screaming, and to top it all off… all of the Christmas tree lights didn’t go on. All of them. I even checked other outlets, didn’t matter… tossed. What was it? One season? I put them away working, a year later all dead? So there I was.
Flustered.
But I recognized that I was losing patience and I took a deep breath. Time out. This is actually the dream for me. Our kids were excited about Christmas. This is such a small window. They’re growing quickly and I need to embrace the moments.
Advent is more than Christmas to-dos. After I took a long exhale and regrouped I changed my mind. We put a YouTube crackling fire on the TV and opened up some books and snuggled in. The kids smothered me on the floor as I read and Ani sat behind me on the couch while the soft electronic glow of the fire lit the room. Eventually, we tucked the kids in and settled in front of the TV fire again and had my pregnant wife fall asleep on my shoulder.
The dream.
Yesterday morning continued the graceful Advent moment where we continued the Advent reflections and prayer around the candles at breakfast. We read from a little devotional that might be a little over their heads but for the questions in it, their little answers were the same, “because Jesus loves us.”
That’s the answer, isn’t it? That’s the season. That’s Advent. Because Jesus loves us. It’s easy to be caught up in the preparation of it all. It can stress us out. Let’s take it another way. Embrace the moment. Because while Advent will return, we’ll never have another moment like the one we’re experiencing right now. A future Advent will have its turn, but this Advent is now. Embrace who and what is in front of you and dig into that with love. Why? “Because Jesus loves us,” (first).
Happy Advent Everyone!
— Adam Jarosz
Founder/Leadership Coach
Righteous Co.
I love sharing insights and reflections for the faithfully productive – this article is from Righteous Co.’s weekly newsletter, The Climb. If you want to see content like this and more, subscribe here to get The Climb right in your email box, every Righteous Wednesday. You can also follow along on Instagram @righteousco.
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