Longing for something more

(Warning, this might be a bit on the long side, but hey, it’s not often I get deep and philosophical on this blog so make the most of it!)

For the last number of years Christmas time has been a time when I’ve taken the ‘Bah humbug’ attitude. I get fed up with the commercialism & materialism, the rushing around, the pressure for it to be a ‘special’ time of year etc and I guess my strategy has been all about survival.

Psychologically it’s a time when we are all winding down – finally getting round to doing the filing we’ve been putting off for several months, getting bits and bobs tidied up at work so that when we go back in the New Year everything feels fresh and you can make a clean start.

Mark reflected a wee while back on how we seem to be so desperate for something that the Christmas anticipation starts ages back in October but he also makes the point that reaching the end of the year in itself is significant. And the reality is that everyone is dropping like flies with illness because we’re tired out and ready for a break and we’re all just hanging on by the skin of our teeth to get to the holidays to get switched off. (Unless you’re in retail of course and man I take my hat off to you, I couldn’t work the hours you guys work at this time of year!) Our body clocks seem to be tuned in to the calendar year and we’re glad for the chance to let it all hang out for a bit and get our batteries recharged so that we can get stuck into a New Year.

Mark’s post made me think though – if I’m honest I think I try to ignore Christmas because I’m disappointed that the magic isn’t real – presents won’t magically appear in my living room, fairies won’t flit about and do my dishes à la Disney's Sleeping Beauty, and the all-important snow only shows up in this part of the world once in a blue moon (and even when it does it tends to turn to grey slush fairly quickly). I think I’m maybe longing for something more…

Last week at the PCI Church House Carol Service, one of the staff who is originally from Zimbabwe and has been living here for 4 years shared with us an email from some friends about what Christmas in Zimbabwe is like now. Zimbabwe has changed dramatically in the last few years, beyond recognition for my colleague if he was to go back. For the shops which are open there is hardly anything on the shelves, people are desperately trying to eke out a living. Christmas is Jesus because that’s pretty much all they have. They don’t know what’s going on, they don’t understand what God is doing, but they know and trust that God is at work. All they have is Christ and Christmas heralds the time of Emmanuel – God with us.

Hearing about Christmas from this totally different standpoint has helped me get things into perspective a little more. It’s nothing new that I’m longing for something more, it’s indicative of that inbuilt ‘God-shaped hole’. So I guess I want to make a conscious effort to be a blessing to the people around me this Christmas, it’s NOT about me or what I can get out of it. Though I know that I’ll fail miserably in places because I mess up, I’m wayward and I don’t like not getting my own way. But the something more has come into the world, something magical has happened and is happening.

So maybe it’s down to trust, and choice – I choose to believe in God’s goodness and justice and righteousness, I choose to follow him and walk in His ways, I choose to believe that good wins the day. This year, Christmas represents hope for me. Hope for the future. The world is a bleak place - I’ve just started reading Blood River and I’m being made aware afresh of the travesties which have occurred down through the centuries, what humans have done to humans and what humans still do to humans is truly horrendous – Lord have mercy on us! But there is hope, hope that we are not abandoned or left carry on in this quagmire by ourselves, but God is with us in the midst and depths of our grief and pain and loss. A new day is coming… This Christmas I will remember that God is with me and I get to be part of He’s doing in the world… and that is truly magical and wonderful.

David Stevens also provides a good thought for the season here.

Christmas, kayaking & gifts

Well it’s turned out to be a busy Christmas, but busy in a really great way. I’ve been able to get caught up with a lot of friends and family, and the craic has been good. But I think I’ll be going back to work for a rest, I’m shattered now! I haven’t got half the things done I wanted to get done but hey, those things (like thinking up my dissertation title, cleaning my windows, putting up pictures in the flat etc) can always wait till another day. Anyway it’s priceless to spend time with the people who matter to you. I did manage to clean my car out on the inside, it was boggin’! Oh and I made butternut squash soup which I’ve been in the notion of for ages. The only thing that spoiled Christmas, and only slightly at that, was that I had constant heartburn from Christmas Eve to Boxing Day, and that was before I’d got started to any Christmas treats!

A highlight of course has been kayaking and the club got together twice in the last few days – woo-hoo! On Thursday we headed to Omagh and took a spin down the Mourne River which had some good sections of rapids but no real playspots. However I managed not to swim at all! And then yesterday we headed to the Bann and did a different section of it than we usually do. There was a fair bit of water so it was running at Grade II. I swam just a couple of times, but I managed a roll coming off a rapid which gave me a real buzz, hee hee!

Oh and I got some fantastic presents! The new U2 book – excellent reading; a couple of seasons of the MASH TV series – my all-time favourite TV show! And the ultimate Christmas gift…a garden shed!!! Now I’ll have somewhere to store my bike, and maybe I’ll even start cycling to work. And of course it’s good to know that whenever I manage to get my own kayak, it’ll have a home, hee hee!

THE KING IS COMING!

Now that I’m going to a church fellowship with Church of Ireland roots there’s been more emphasis on the season of Advent in the past few weeks and I’ve found it really meaningful. There is so much comfort in the thought that the King is coming – not only has the fully Divine come and lived as a fully human being, but there is also the reminder that He’s coming back for good on a day when ‘all colours will bleed into one’. It kinda makes you wonder about how we’re using our time on the planet so I’ve been thinking about the kinds of things I am waiting for and things I spend a normal week waiting for. Here’s what I came up with:

• The weekend
• The next kayaking trip
• To get my masters complete
• My next big adventure overseas
  
• The holidays
• The bus
• 5 o’clock
• My own kayak
• Jesus to come again
• Marriage?
• To see John and Abbey in the States
• To go home – my heavenly home
• For the realisation of my dreams
• To visit a kid I sponsor through Compassion in Rwanda
• Internal peace
• My bath/shower to get fixed
• My turn at the supermarket checkout

If I’m honest I don’t think I spend much time at all thinking about Jesus’ return. At work I’m so used to making plans for next year, scheduling work commitments well into the year etc when really who knows what’s round the corner? Waiting is more of an active than a passive thing, we have to push through in prayer for the Kingdom to come…how am I using the time I’ve been given to usher in the Kingdom?

Since ancient times no one has heard,
no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides you,
who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.

Isaiah 64:4

Merry Christmas to one and all!

If you're looking to feel festive, then check this out!

And the award for...
...the most original Christmas present goes to…my brother-in-law Norman! He got his wife (my sister, Alex) a…wait for it… SHE WEE!!! …Ok an explanation just might be necessary:

My sister & her husband have their own business as asbestos surveyors which involves a lot of work outdoors in the cold and in uncertain conditions. For my sister this can be a bit of a hassle when it comes to wanting to relieve herself and one day she was so fed up that she declared she was going to invent something for women to enable them to pee like men. Well a couple of nights later they were watching TV and Dragon's Den was on – the show where entrepreneurs get to pitch their ideas to successful business people in a bid to procure funding to make their ideas happen. One of the entrepreneurs was a woman who has invented the SHEWEE which does exactly what Alex wants and lets women pee standing up! It was designed with female soldiers (apparently they have to put camouflage paint on their backsides if they want to pee when in combat) and arctic research scientists etc in mind and although the Dragon's Den people didn’t take the inventor seriously she’s got production off the ground. I’m thinking one might come in handy on kayaking trips!

A U2 Christmas?
Heard the U2 Christmas tune the other day for the first time. Actually I didn’t know for sure it was them – recognised Bono’s voice immediately but couldn’t quite believe he was singing a Christmas number. I’ve never really associated them with Christmas jingles. It wasn’t bad for the first listen – Bono’s voice as always is brilliant – but I don’t know if I’m convinced – Christmas jingles just aren’t my thing I guess & I never thought they would stoop that low! What’s everyone else think?