So Christmas is coming, they say. It seems we have already been bombarded by multiple advertisements and I am sure that the stores are playing Christmas carols as the shoppers browse the stores for the perfect gifts. (As I have yet to go into a clothing or department store in the last few weeks I can only assume that they are playing holiday music) Everything today seems to be so busy that I can fail to truly enter into the spirit of the season. Two years ago I stumbled across a wonderful reminder of past Christmas years. It was a CD entitled the "Living Strings and Voices Christmas." As a young child I remember so fondly my Mom playing this album over and over again.
Hearing those songs and hymns so frequently made it easy to memorize the music. I had long waited for this particular album to be re-released as a CD. There were days when I thought I would not see it in my life. And yet, thanks to a friend of mine, I was made aware of the release and purchased a copy for myself and one for my parents.
Listening to the CD takes me back to the days on the farm and the excitement of the season. We pestered Mom to put up the tree and we graciously helped decorate. I know that our decorating was horrendous. We tried to throw everything and anything onto the tree. For some reason, the morning after we decorated, the tree looked somewhat different. A few pounds of tinsel had disappeared and the ornaments were placed a little different. No doubt, Mom had "fixed" things overnight. We had grandmother's windup religious ornament that became somewhat of a toy and I know that my parents still place this out for Christmas. There were other decorations that were hauled down from the attic and somehow they even smelled different. Then, of course, was the nativity set that all of us managed to arrange and re-arrange depending on the time of day and it was not unusual to find the baby Jesus hanging from the peg that the angel was supposed to hang from and the smallest of the shepherd's sheep laying in the manger. The bookshelf was the perfect hiding place for one of the kings with proper blame being ascribed to the younger sister.
Maybe it is nostalgia or maybe it is the fact that I am just getting older. Whatever the reason, Christmas just seemed so much more special as a kid. And maybe that is exactly what the Lord is drawing us into. He says, "for if you do not become like little children you can never enter the Kingdom of Heaven."
And with that I turn on the CD of the Living Strings and am taken back in time, even though momentarily, to when anxiety and stress and worry were not even in the picture. This Advent as you prepare for the great day of Christmas, take some time to go back. In your mind surround yourself with the joy of those days. Bless God for what he has given to you and never forget that contemplating those years as a child is the first step in gaining the Kingdom of God.
