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We Have a Beautiful Christmas Tree

We have a beautiful Christmas tree this year. But I couldn’t appreciate it yesterday. There were so many things to do. I worried that it didn’t have enough water. First, I jumped up to add water to it. Then all of the presents to open. We had to get through all of them. And there was breakfast and then clean up and lunch and to get to all the rest that we needed to do.

We all know the routine. We fill our days with so many good things that we struggle to taste and enjoy them all.

This morning I am happy.

This morning I was able to enjoy the Christmas tree.

I am sitting and looking at the intricate detail. The tiny little ornaments and the reflected lights. There is so much to look at. But it is not overwhelming in this moment. It is just a joy to take it in and not to have to stress or worry about anything in particular.

How could I get to this place today when I couldn’t yesterday?

It is the quiet of the morning and no one else is awake yet (other than our beagle and she is mostly sleeping again anyhow!) I was able to sip a cup of coffee and read from my Bible.

This morning I read from the book of Daniel. In it I read of the dream of king Nebuchadnezzar. This dream was an amazing and grand dream. It encompassed all of human history and told of the many kingdoms that would come and go. In the end they would all become as dust on the threshing floor when the final kingdom is established.

I asked myself, “Why did the Lord give this dream? Why did Nebuchadnezzar need this? And why do we need this?”

The answer came in the form of the Christmas tree in front of me.

The world is filled with complexities along with so many things to do and think about. We rush around and fill our days with activities. We build empires. These empires are the most important things to us it seems. But while they may last for a season, they will eventually become dust. They will pass away. They will become as dust on the threshing floor. They will all be blown away. But in their place, we will have something permanent and right and true. We won’t be bothered or care about the others blowing away because of what replaces it. It will be right and true.

We can rest in this knowledge. We can pause and stop running around. We can sit and enjoy and know that there is a plan.

I can relax. I can look at the lights on the Christmas tree not worrying about the details. I can just enjoy them. I can look with wonder at the intricate details of the many ornaments. (Sarah loves Christmas ornaments.) I can just enjoy them. And for the 1^sttime today I can feel peace. I do not have to do everything or rush or hurry. I can and should stop and enjoy.

It is a hard feeling to communicate. I don’t know if I can adequately do so, but I will try.

There are lots of things for you to obsess or worry about today. There are lots of activities that you feel that you must get done. There are so many good things for you to do today. But for one moment can you understand that they are all temporary? What seems so important in this moment is perhaps not as important as you might think.

Can you break free for one moment? Can you keep the forces of the now from robbing you from a single moment of enjoyment and peace? As I type this the clocks chime at me. They are yelling at me that time is passing. But I am going to be strong. I am going to ignore them and fight against them. I am not going to let them rob me of the now.

Can you do the same? Can you understand that there is a greater plan and that there are greater days to come? It is enough for now to pause and enjoy what is in front of you. Just look at the lights on the tree. Look with a sense of fun and joy and peace at the ornaments and how they reflect. Or look at the small and intricate ones buried in the inside of the tree.

The “things” that you have to do will all be gone as a puff of dust. You will later get to a day by the graciousness of God and by his redeeming power when we can enjoy the world. If we are His children and accept Him and His grace, then He will bring us to that day. It will be a day when all the “things” suddenly make sense. We will get to slow down and taste and see and hear and enjoy them all. We won’t be struggling or running with frantic things to do. We can enjoy His creation in the way that He intended.

But for now, He gives us glimpses of that day. For me it is in the Christmas tree in front of me.

I didn’t fill the water up yet. I can do that later. I am just sitting and looking at it. I am not trying to figure it all out. I am just enjoying it and feeling a sense of deep peace. God is in charge. All the things that worry me are temporary. They will be blown away as dust. For now, I can just sit and enjoy. I can dream of the day when we finally will be able to just enjoy the world. We won’t be sick or tired. We won’t feel loss or grief. We won’t be stressed over building empires. We will be happy to be together. Every blade of grass and every leaf on the trees and every curving hill will bring beauty and enjoyment and peace to all of us.

For now, it is enough to look and breathe and enjoy the Christmas tree.

We have a beautiful Christmas tree this year.

The Best Times of Your Life

“Now is the time, now is the best time, now is the best time of your life!”

That was at one point the song that played in Disney’s “Carousel of Progress.” I torture my family by insisting on going through that ride whenever we go to Disney. But I really like it. I am not sure why. The first time I saw it as a child I was amazed by it. The animatronics were cool. But also, the idea of how things have changed over time fascinates me. More than that, it is trying to imagine what it was like to live during those times.

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Do you do this?

I love to think about what life was like for my parents when they were my age. I love to think about my grandparent’s lives.

What did it feel like to be alive in WWII? What was it like in the 50’s. I look at old pictures of my parents when they were young and wonder what they felt or how it was for them. I take my current age and think about what things were like when they were that age. Is it odd that I would have nostalgia for them? I will call this “empathetic nostalgia”. That is – trying to feel what they feel when they look back.

One day my father said something that was very profound.

I have never told him but this wisdom has had a huge impact on my life. I am very thankful to him for having taught me this.

He said, “Some of our happiest days were when all of you kids were home. We could put you to bed at night and know that you were all safe and sound upstairs.”

Why was this so profound?

It is not just about the safety of our children. That is important but that is not the main point.

The main point is that life is fleeting and temporary. Your day today is only going to be here today. You will not get it back. If your children are sleeping soundly upstairs and it feels good, you must enjoy it because it will not be that way in the future. In fact, you should savor it like you would the last bite of a delicious dessert. Love it. Enjoy it. Taste it. Make it linger in your mouth for as long as you can.

The lesson he taught me was to cherish today.

Especially as a father – the lesson – was to really really enjoy my children when they were with me.

As we had our daughters this was imprinted on my brain and impacted how I lived my life. What sort of a father was I going to be? Was I going to delegate everything to my wife because she was the mother? I was NOT going to do this. I knew that I was only going to get one chance to do all of the phases of their lives and I really wanted to be a part of them.

What does that mean?

For one it meant that I got down on the floor.

I remember this as a very conscious decision that I made. I decided that I was going to get down on the floor with my daughters and play with them. If they were interested in something, I was going to enjoy it with them. If they wanted to watch a movie cuddled under a blanket, I was going to be under that blanket with them. If they wanted to wrestle and play, then I was going to have fun and wrestle and play. When they were outside, I would play the big bad wolf and chase them around the yard while they giggled and ran to their play house. I would do it. And I would savor every minute.

Of course, I had to work during the day, but at night when I was home, I was going to be with them as much as was possible. And so the second thing was that bedtime was a Daddy job.I got to take them upstairs to help them get ready. I got to go through the bedtime rituals. And I loved it. The hardest part of the year I spent in Cleveland (as a geographic bachelor) was thinking about not being the bedtime parent. Bless my wife who would still let me be a part of it every night via phone. Those phone calls saved me.

As they progressed through their growing up years, the principle stuck. Today was the day that I was given to be a part of their lives. I was going to live today as much as I was able to do so. I was going to force myself to stop and savor the moments.

I won’t claim to be perfect. I was clearly not. But the thought of the wisdom from my father stayed with me. Yes, it was good to have them all home. I had better not miss out on it, whatever that might look like.

I may write about this later (I have written it but not yet sure if I will post it), but the 3 hardest days of my adult life have been related to missing out on, or thinking of missing out on, things in my girls’ lives.

It is really nice now when they are all here. I want to make sure the house is warm and secure and cozy. I want to enjoy knowing that they are all here and safe.

But also, I really want to thank my Daddy. Because of his wisdom, I have savored – I have worked to truly enjoy – all of the times that I have had with them. Today only happens to be here today. If I get a chance to be a part of their lives today then that I will do today.

Thanks Dad!

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