Post Christmas

It’s usually right about now – after Christmas is celebrated and we’re starting to get back to routines – that I find myself reflecting on what, if anything, changed for me during Advent and leading up to Christmas.

While I try to be more mindful and grateful, take a little more quiet time, read a bit more of the scriptures and even lead some Advent reflections, I find that the half-life of those insights and reflections doesn’t always last as long as I’d hope they would.

I fall back into familiar patterns pretty quickly.

Maybe you can relate.

The good news, however, is that we do not need a specific season to be mindful of and awaiting the arrival of Christ in our lives. It happens every day, if we’re paying attention. Perhaps one purpose of a season like Advent is to help us develop the disciplines we need for the everyday arrivals.

One image I think I have seen before but that circulated again on Facebook (I saw it attributed to someone named Scott Spencer and shared by others) is this:

This image for me brings home the everyday reality that the plight of people like Joseph and Mary happens in our midst and in so many places, and that the Christ child could likely be coming, yet again, in such circumstances.

The gospel stories keep happening.

Another reminder that I return to every year are the famous words of theologian Howard Thurman called The Work of Christmas:

When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and the princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flocks,
The work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among brothers,
To make music in the heart.

Taken together, that image and Thurman’s words help me to remember that Christmas is a day, but the “work” of Christmas continues in every day life.

And that is something I can be part of throughout the year.