There’s been a voice developing in my head over the past year. This voice takes shards of my day and polishes and smoothes until it’s something I don’t mind putting in my window....souvenirs of my motherhood adventure. A toddler meltdown over a popsicle that in the moment makes me want to bang my head against the refrigerator door turns into a funny story that reminds me how far we’ve come from middle of the night feedings. And when I really tune into the voice, I often find insight into God and His love for me. This blog is the recording studio for that voice. My hope is that the souvenirs of my day serve as entertainment and encouragement to those of you who are banging your head against a refrigerator door. And that you’re inspired to find a voice of your own that turns these trying moments into treasured souvenirs.

Sunday, December 7, 2014

The Problem with Perfection


Our Christmas tree is up, and far from perfect this year.  The ornaments are usually perfectly placed, with consideration for color and sparkle distribution, but not this year.  This year, my two 3-year-olds, in a fit of Christmas excitement, dragged a box of Christmas decor up from the basement completely on their own.  They tipped over the treasured ornament box and left balls strewn all over the furnace room.  All three boys were so into decorating the tree, they hung all the ornaments in record time (in a 3’x3’ section of the tree).  I was able to play it pretty cool…..ok, who am I kidding….I totally lost it by the end and sent them off to play so I could create a “pretty” tree.  I spread the ornaments out, but they kept being grouped by my 5-yr-old engineer.   The handmade Wizard of Oz ornaments are all on one branch, the kid-friendly Toy Story ornaments are all on another.  So I threw in the towel.  Our tree isn’t perfect this year, but it is a well-loved centerpiece for our Christmas celebration.  


And guess what else.  My floors are dirty, I haven’t started my Christmas baking, and my Christmas shopping is far from complete!!  But you know what I did on one of the three Saturday’s left before Christmas?  I joined my husband and sons for a trip downtown to explore Denver’s new Union Station.  We lounged around, chatted up Santa, and ate ice cream before returning to the suburbs.  

God never meant for us to create a perfect Christmas for our families.  Christmas was perfect at its inception.  His son was born in the barn of a nondescript, small town.  His first visitors were shepherds with their dirty sheep!  This was the atmosphere God created for His Prince of Peace to enter our world.  So I feel good about finding peace this year with the imperfections.  And filling the time I would spend making things perfect with making memories with my boys.  In a couple of years they’ll have no interest in decorating the tree with me.  So I’ll treasure my imperfect tree this year.  In a couple of years they’ll laugh at Santa, so we’ll take the time to chat up every Santa we encounter this year.  And I’ll continue to procrastinate on my to-do list so that we can cuddle after nap and do our advent calendar.  

I think Christopher Fry’s poem perfectly describes what God intended Christmas to be….
           
          The darkest night of the year
          The poorest place in the town.
Cold and a taste of fear
Man and woman alone
What can we hope for here?

More light than we can learn
More wealth than we can treasure
More love than we can earn
More peace than we can measure
Because one child is born.
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)