Celebrating the Season

By Randall Friesen
GATEWAY COVENANT CHURCH
Prince Albert Daily Herald

As I write this I'm sitting in my office, looking out the window into a white darkness. It's an early morning late in November, and the new snow makes everything seem to glow.

In a while the sun will arise and everything will look white and beautiful. The frost crystals in the air will sparkle, catching the fist light, adding to it's beauty.

The snow that we are blessed with, causes us to do some things that people in Florida and California don't have to do. We have to stop from our daily routine and think about winter. We must prepare ourselves for the coming of the cold and snow. The houses and cars need attention and we pull out our parkas and long underwear and mitts.  The point is that we are required to stop from our ongoing life, and think about things coming. This is a blessing we don't always see.
                                  
When I talk with friends in California there seems to be a sense that life just continues, 52 weeks a year, with a day off for Christmas. There is no need to stop and think, no need to exchange our daily rhythms with seasonal ones. No need to look ahead and think about things coming. I think this is why we are blessed.

The pre Christmas or Advent season is about stopping our regular rhythms of life and looking ahead. The snow reminds me to stop and look forward.

My days can get hopelessly cluttered, filled with events and activities that have little life, and rare, if any meaning. I need to remember that I tend towards making life as easy as possible rather than making it as good as possible. Instead of decorating my life with superficial activities and quick fixes, I need to go deeper.

This Christmas I want my life to be filled with stories.  Whole pages and chapters with my children, my wife, my friends and family and church and God.

Those stories don't write themselves. They need time and effort. They only come in the context of relationships. In connections with God and those he's given me.

This Advent the snow is reminding me to stop what I'm doing and start looking ahead. I need to look again to the Christ, who is Jesus of Nazareth. I want to watch and see what deep things he's doing in my life. I want to recognize him again as the only answer to my struggles with sin and broken-ness. I want to set aside time just to be with him. To wait and watch and worship.

The clean white beauty that the snow brings also challenges me to tidy up a bit. To simplify and unclutter. To make room for God and loved ones. The clutter in my life isn't always for decoration, more often it's for distraction. I need to do away with some of that stuff so that I can go deeper with him and those he's given me.

As I make this Christmas more about my relationships with God and loved ones, and less about the things that don't matter, I will meet the true Spirit of Christmas, the Holy Spirit. The things he brings with him, are just what I need. Love, joy, peace, hope and many more wonderful gifts.

This Advent season, take time for the things that matter. Let's see some amazing stories written in our hearts. Stories of deeper commitment to God and love for those he's given us.

Then your Christmas shall be blessed indeed.

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Randall Friesen is a local husband and father who pastors Gateway Covenant Church. He writes regularly at randallfriesen.com