Christmas Head

Yesterday, I was riding in the car with a friend to go meet another lady to pick up a box full of clothes and toiletries to donate to a women’s shelter she supports. We were riding in her big Cadillac Escalade and just as we pulled onto the 101 south and took our lane we saw 3 cars almost collide with each other narrowly avoiding causing a huge accident which would have likely affected us and consequently involved many other motorists around us.

The blessed motorists who somehow chose in that moment to listen to their God given intuition and the voices of their driving angels, decided in that split second prior to what would have been a disastrous lane change, to look twice and really see the people in the cars directly next to them. Instead of crashing into them, they waved at them as if to say “Oh I didn’t see you there and I almost hit you, completely ruining your day, so sorry about that!” and we watched as they waited for the others to pass before they proceeded into their lane and continued on with their busy day.

My friend said to me after witnessing this, “Good thing it’s Christmas and everyone is being nice to each other!”

We felt like we had witnessed a small miracle! No one shook their fists at each other or used rude gestures and we saw no lips mouthing angry words. Thank God for Christmas!

Now the inattention behind the wheel usually comes from what I call during this time of year, “Christmas Head.” Everyone so caught up in the rush and consumer buzz of the Christmas holiday they are paying no attention to the present moment, whether its behind the wheel or in line waiting at a retail store, their heads are missing what’s right in front of them as their minds drift on to the next item on their “to do list.” So caught up are we at times during the holidays that we completely miss the true expectation of Christmas, the beautiful anticipation of the celebrated anniversary of the birth of Jesus. The birth of our salvation, the birth of our eternal grace from sin. I know that pointing this out is almost cliché but it is a pitfall we face every day, not just at Advent.

We often become drowsy and complacent to the gift of God’s love and salvation and the promise that this world is not our last stop. We fall asleep to the needs of others and place ourselves, our endeavors, before all else and instead of asking what can I do for God’s glory today? We insist on comfort and instant gratification for ourselves. We are blind to the elderly widow who lives next door and is alone day after day, or the co-worker who hasn’t smiled in a week, that we don’t stop to ask why they aren’t smiling or offer to sit down and share a cup of coffee with them. Most times, we don’t really see the people around us, like missing that car in our blind spot while driving; we develop blind spots in how we should be love to the people around us.

Advent is a time for us to grow, to step out of our norm and work on “seeing” each other better, loving each other anew in hopes of expanding our hearts beyond Christmas. We do know that the best gifts don’t come from a catalog and are not wrapped in brightly colored paper. The best gifts come from the heart; they are the moments that we share with one another in love, compassion and charity. God knows our hearts, He shaped us, He knows our capacity for love, He knows the gifts He has placed in us and waits on us to choose to use them of our own free will. Loving each other as Christ loved us, being His light to the world. The star that shines beyond Advent.

JCB 12-8-12