For the first Christmas in many years, I didn’t put up a Christmas tree. Last year, I was so excited to decorate the tree and the rest of my house. This year I was doing the waltz with a Sitz bath and just hoping that somehow, the tree would walk out of the closet and put itself up. Some years, life is like that. But the joy of Christmas is within our hearts and actions. It’s not really in the twinkling lights on a tree.
No matter what your Christmas looks like this year, the true beauty of the holiday can be found. There is no wrong or right way to celebrate. Even if this day looks different than it ever has for you. Perhaps there is one less chair at the Christmas table this year or perhaps you have added several more. Life is never constant and even when we live in a place of comfort sometimes, the ebb and flow of change is always there.
I declared to many that I wasn’t really in the spirit this year. I couldn’t quite pinpoint why but I suspect it has a lot to do with having surgery and just feeling weak. Sometimes, Christmas just shows up at your door and blesses you anyway.
At the start of the season, a sweet friend came to my office with a bag full of treats and a card of encouragement. It gave me the strength to put one foot in front of another when I didn’t know if my body was about to betray me. Then, one cold morning, my car decided that it’d had enough and the battery died. A sweet set of friends made sure I had a ride to work and another helped me get my car jumped off to go get a battery. Another day, sweet friends brought food for me after my surgery. More and more, I saw the Christmas spirit in others and I wanted nothing more than to be as much of a blessing to others as they’d been to me.
I may not have been living on a mountain in a cave set high above the town of Whoville but I had definitely adopted a spirit similar to a green, furry man with a bad attitude. The simple acts of kindness, however, helped to make my heart grow three sizes. (And hopefully not in the way that would disappoint a cardiologist.) I set my vision on others and less on my situation. I started to find ways, both big and small, to let the people in my life know how very much I love them. Joy was abundant for me. Being able to be the ray of hope or the Secret Santa for some folks made me feel like I was the Christmas spirit. It isn’t a feeling. It’s a person—a living, breathing human—who keeps the spark alive. That person is me. That person is you. We are the Christmas spirit sent to keep the love of Jesus in the hearts of others.
While the season may not have begun in the way I expected, it is ending way better than I could have imagined. I even felt like I was so much into the Christmas spirit that I wore the absolute tackiest outfit to work for the ugly sweater contest for our leaders at work this past week. I couldn’t win since I was part of the voting team but that wasn’t why I wore it. I thought of the many smiles that my outlandish attire would hopefully put on the faces within my work and the contagiousness it could bring. If only I could ignite a smile that would pass on for days, my job was done. Even if there are feathers from my “flamingo antlers” that will be floating around until next Christmas, I saw a few faces light up with wonder and excitement and that made it worth it.
Be the joy. Be the spirit. Be the love that this world so desperately needs and do it without condition. Don’t think about what people will think about you. Love the unlovable. Give an unexpected gift. Write words of encouragement and love in a Christmas card to let someone know how much they impact your life. I promise that some day, some way, it will come back to you as a blessing.
The other night before bed, I received a text message from a friend I don’t get to see or talk with as often as I’d like. She told me she’d been cleaning out her room and found a card from me. This is the same friend who sent me a similar message last year when I needed to hear it so bad. She sent me another picture of the card I’d given her and told me, “you mean more to me than you know, I think a lot of you.” She didn’t know that I’d been feeling my Christmas spirit tank depleting. But, in a gesture filled with what the spirit is all about, she brought my spirit back to me full circle. Don’t ever let anyone or anything dull your sparkle, your Christmas spirit. You’ll never know just how much your love may be the turning point for someone or how much you may need it in return. Merry Christmas, Messpots. I love each and every one of you.
Messpot Diaries 