10 minutes of Christmas!

I like the snow... when I'm not driving in it, or having to shovel it, or when it isn't getting me cold or wet. And so yesterday's prelude to winter was good for about 10 minutes. (For the cold, wet and driving, not the shoveling.) And during the 10 minutes things were good, I thought of Christmas.

I like the Christmas season... when I don't have to hear Christmas music in the mall, or have to try to figure out how I'm going to afford to buy presents, or feel the need to rant on commercialization, or remember the good old days when Christmas meant a HOLIDAY instead of WAY more work (ah, the life of a pastor), or think about how many people will have to go without this season and the parents who will have to explain to their kids why Santa only brought them crappy gifts. And so yesterday's prelude to Christmas was good for about 10 minutes. Standing in the lightly falling snow (before the cold and wet set in, and before I had to get behind the wheel), breathing in the cool, crisp air, getting caught up in the anticipation of a season that is all about anticipation... I was at peace.

Then the world and the work and the remembering started again (not to mention that the snow eventually became freezing rain and the roads became a bit treacherous), and life went on.

I'm looking forward to more 10 minute moments, and praying that the "peace on earth" that Christ came here to bring will infuse its way into me. But I think it's okay that in my heart I'm really feeling: COME LORD JESUS... AGAIN.