Leading up to the weekend, my heart sank as I mulled over the strong possibility that two highly anticipated events of the year might be canceled. I have a pretty large extended family in the area so every year we gather for a family reunion. What was extra special in particular was that my cousin who we hadn’t seen in years would be flying in from LA to be with us. In addition, I was looking forward to our highly anticipated Christmas service together as a church family. I got to hear our young adult acapella group sing at Chesterbrook Residences a week ago and those songs have been stuck in my head since. Also my sons have been humming the melody all week. So I was super excited to hear them again during the service. Point being, I was looking forward to the weekend!
But as the snow began pile on, it became pretty clear that our plans would not materialize. While I was shoveling our minivan out of our parking space, I was pretty bummed out. All the planning and hard work for the weekend came to a screeching halt. It was rather strange to be forced to stop everything. After going full tilt for a while now, there was nothing to do except shovel snow. But in that still silent moment outside in the freezing cold, I was reminded that maybe this is exactly what I needed. Rather than being bummed for all the things we couldn’t do, I could simply focus on what already has been done in Christ Jesus. I can just let the story speak to me again on its own terms rather than letting my busyness obscure the simplicity of the message. Rather than seeing this as an unwelcome interruption, perhaps I needed to see this as a Sabbath I desperately need where I can rest in the one who has come to redeem us by becoming one of us.
As it turns out, our extended family did meet the next day. Our church family can always reschedule. We really don’t know the actual day Jesus was actually born anyway. So even if Christmas songs are song after Christmas, nothing really is lost. The message of Christ’s coming is never bound by time. Rather it is something we can always cherish anytime, anywhere, even in a parking lot during an epic snow storm.
