I'm blaming busyness for ruining Christmas this year. Things have been so crazy busy the past few months that I had to move into survival mode. Nobody else knows it because I still did a good job of picking the best gifts I could find, and did all of the right stuff on the outside. But inside, in the part of life that matters, I just wasn't in to Christmas.
The message of Christmas is not 'Let It Snow' (which it did), or 'Let Us Shop' (which I did). Christmas is about worship.
It is about perceiving and following the Christmas Star right up to the place of worship. Christmas is about recognizing and accepting a life and destiny that is fundamentally different and better than the one into which I was born, and laying down my meager gifts and talents in exchange for the purpose and impact of a bright star on a dark night...of the baby that changed the course of history...of change, renewal, hope, humility and all of the other images presented in the nativity.
It is about following the star without getting lost or distracted. Without losing hope or interest. Without thinking that the journey is too long or too hard. Without being kidnapped by busyness, wealth, pride, pleasure or fear.
Christmas is about faith - not in my own ability to complete this journey, but in the ability of the Star to guide me and the Baby to accept me, and the angels to protect me and the wise men to teach me and the shepherds to rescue me if I get tangled up.
It is about encouraging each other, families, friends and other travelers to take a few more steps. It is about anticipation of the life that will be, and will never 'not be' again.
It's about worship.
I may be a day late, but I'm there now. I hope I never again 'do' all of the wrong stuff and 'not do' all of the right stuff where Christmas is concerned.