Unshackled Moments ~ December 11, 2017 ~ Christmas Chaos & Peace

The Holiday Season could almost be changed from the 12 Days of Christmas to the 12 Weeks of Chaos. If you look at how many stores begin decorating and promoting Christmas purchases around the first of October, it truly is closer to 12 weeks than 12 days. And it is chaos. The stores are mad and overcrowded and people curse one another over parking space. Poor postal workers are killing themselves to deliver all your Amazon Prime packages and get home before midnight. Then there's all the work that needs to be done to get the house ready for decorations and company and cooking. So much to cook. So much to clean. A month or so to prepare for a few days with people you might not even associate with if you didn't share DNA or weren't married to someone who shares their DNA. I personally lucked out in the family department, including the in-laws. Still, family gatherings can be serious sources of chaos, even when everyone gets along and likes one another. Then there is the tug of war between just wanting to curl up with some hot chocolate and sappy Christmas movies for a month and the invitations to more programs, parties and gatherings than exist during the rest of the year combined. For those who don't do people in groups very well the stress of forced Christmas cheer is jarring.

There are less than two weeks until Christmas, and I feel like I am running out of time. I put our first tree up before Thanksgiving and still don't have the decorations all done. It seems so ironic, or maybe depressing is more accurate, that a time when so many songs and sayings proclaim peace on earth is the most stressful, chaotic and anxiety ridden time of year with the highest relapse rates. There are reasons why the definition of merrymaking went from simply being the act of taking part gaily or enthusiastically in some festive or merry celebration to the process of enjoying oneself with others, especially by dancing and drinking. With all the chaos of the season it is easy to feel like we must be in an altered state to enjoy it, even if it's only being hopped up on sugar and dazzled by a thousand sparkling lights. But the truth is that the peace proclaimed during the Christmas season and the Holiday chaos are not mutually exclusive.

In fact, rather than making peace impossible, the chaos can make it even more recognizable and amazing. It is the peace in the midst of the storm that is miraculous, that is peace beyond understanding and the peace that brings glory to God and causes those seeking it to seek Him. Peace that comes when the situation calms, when people stop getting on one another's nerves, when everything that had to be done has been done, when the pressure passes and the chaos quiets is not all that impressive. It is nice and a blessing and something to be appreciated and grateful for. But it's not a miracle. To have peace when the situation and circumstances are peaceful is just not something that makes us go, Wow! How'd that happen?

It is those types of moments though that we seem to long for most when we think of finding peace during the holidays. And if that is what we are hoping for, we will most likely be disappointed as those chaos free Christmas miracle moments are few and far between and a large percentage feel a bit manipulated and manufactured as well. But those times when I have seen and understood that the storms are raging and chaos reigns (regardless of the time of year) and see someone going through that with and in peace, that has and does amaze me. I find that miraculous,  outside the normal and natural, and something to make me go, I want that.

Peace that come from the spirit out instead of from the outside in is so much better because the world and life don't have to cooperate or coordinate in order to have it. It can't be killed by chaos and circumstances. Just the opposite, like darkness only makes a light appear brighter, chaos makes our peace shine all the more. And that light in the darkness helps draw the world to the source of light that entered the world when the Word was made flesh. It is the peace that comes from communion of our spirit with the Spirit of our Creator that we all need, that Christmas is all about and that we can all have because of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus that is both miraculous and meaningful. This is the peace that can coexist with chaos and overcome it.

Instead of looking for those moments that are free of the chaos of the season and trying to force or manufacture them, let us look instead for that communion with the Prince and Lord of peace.

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