Christmas Wish List
Do you still write one? I remember writing to Santa as a kid. While I was aware that there were financial limits with my parents, requests to Santa were limitless. As I wrote my list, I would refer to the dog-eared Sears catalogue. I vaguely remember the trifold letter paper that I would use for my letters: heavy card stock, lightly stenciled with wide lined guide lines for my newly learned printing. I remember my mom showing me where to put the date, heading, salutation, body of the letter and signature. I would fold up the letter and seal with a gold foil sticker and then head off to the official North Pole mailbox conveniently found at the local fire station.
Even though my parents are gone and my belief in Santa has also disappeared, the items on my grown- up Christmas list seem just as impossible to receive as the loaded list of yore. My list is nothing tangible, for the longer I live, the more I recognize that things are just that- things: commodities that come and go. It may seem cheesy but all I really want for Christmas is peace on earth or at least in my little corner of the world: peace and understanding among neighbors; peace and purpose for family; peace and healing for loved ones. Ultimately reconciliation and peace for the world.
It has occurred to me that I can check off items on that Christmas list. Now. After all, the point of Christmas is that the One who was to come and restore the world back to the way God designed, has come. Heaven has come down to earth and we can begin the restoration of peace. As the old choral song says (always the closer for the annual school Christmas concert), peace does begin with me.
I can begin with peace in my heart. Peace that passes all understanding: the peace of forgiveness (for myself and others), the peace in giving up control of uncontrollable situations, the peace in turning my worries into prayers.
What about you? Has this year put the kibosh on any dreams or wishes? Does this year feel more like hell on earth than heaven? What can you do to bring about peace? In your life? In the lives of your family and friends? In your neighborhood or community?
So here's my lifelong wish
My grown-up Christmas list
Not for myself
But for a world in need
No more lives torn apart
That wars would never start
And time would heal all hearts
And everyone would have a friend
And right would always win
And love would never end
This is my grown-up Christmas list
Songwriters: David Foster / Linda Thompson
Grown Up Christmas List
What is on your Christmas List? Did you ever write one when you were little? Do you still make them out? Or have you given up the practice?
I guess I wrote a Christmas list when I was little. With my love of lists I am sure that I must've. Funny that I can't remember any specific one.
I also cannot remember pleading and cajoling my parents for a specific toy or gift. I am sure that I did hound them. My parents probably had the annual holiday headache over hearing me talk about an item and in trying to acquire said item. Yet I cannot remember ever getting the "popular" sold out toy. I don't think that phenomenon was around when I was little. (I think that started with the Cabbage Patch Kids which was part of my nieces and nephews younger years.)
It just seems that the process of naming what we want and writing it down and the anticipation of receiving the gift almost seems greater than the actual item. We can have all those moments of pleasure thinking about the gift. It is the joy of delayed gratification.
Yet it seems that once the gift is given and received, we are not as interested in it anymore. Or at least it loses its charm and appeal. It is as if all our energy was spent on imaging the gift and now that the gift has arrived, we are spent- tired of the item before it has been used. In many cases, we cannot even remember what the fuss was all about.
I remember one year my son had a remote control motorcycle on his Christmas list. Or my father-in-law had heard some of his golf buddies talking about a remote control motorcycle that they were getting their grandchildren. Either way, my father-in-law moved heaven and earth (or at least all the Toys R Us stores in our metropolitan area) to purchase it. Our son enjoyed it very much. For the first couple of days. But after awhile, the difficult-to-acquire toy found its way to the bottom of the toy cabinet.
I am wondering about that experience as I ponder the next chapter in my life. I have thought for a long time the personal and career items I want to accomplish and achieve. I even have a list of material possessions that I would want: type of home, contents of home, location of said home, type of car, etc. But even those lists are like the fantastical lists that our childish selves write to Santa: totally unrealistic and impractical.
What do I really want?
I find that I have a hard time writing down what I want. Oh sure, I have those lists of my ideal items but what if that list was definitive? And that which was written on my list was what I would receive. No more. No less. Would I truly be content and happy with it? Would it be overwhelming or not enough? Would I be listing the right things for the current me as well as the future me? Would I grow weary with my requests even before I received them? If it all came to me at once, would I miss the excitement of the next year or stage of my life?
I guess I have come to the conclusion that, while I have lists of accomplishments and goals, my ultimate list would be deferred to the One who knows me better than myself: the One who created me and who loves me. Not that I am absolving myself of any responsibility of living my life. I just have come to the conclusion that I will trust God in directing my steps for my future plans. Certainly I have my part to do: to be as educated, healthy, curious, well rounded, and developed in my specific gifts and talents. But for choosing the best course of action, I choose to let "Thy Will Be done."
I think I will let my Christmas List be fulfilled by God and what He has in store for me.
What about you?