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I\u2019ve long said <\/a>that the image of the Wise Men traversing the nighttime deserts is one that fills me with that Christmas longing. \u00a0In fact, as C.S. Lewis talks about, it\u2019s often those fleeting jabs of pure joy, of real longing, that hit when I think about a desert in the cool night, wise men on camels, and a radiant star gleaming in the sky. \u00a0This year, the myriad issues with which we\u2019ve had to contend, the uncertainty facing us, several family crises, and of course, the pall cast over all things by the recent\u00a0atrocities,\u00a0not the least of which was the Newtown shooting, have made the spirit seem a little less bright.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s because I want something that is tradition, that is family, comfort, cozy, special. \u00a0Perhaps there\u2019s something in those fleeting jabs of joy when I reflect on the Wise Men that reminds me, however briefly, that when we search for God, we\u2019re not searching for a way to add to our middle class 21st century comfortable lifestyle. \u00a0We\u2019re looking for something that will be\u00a0wholly\u00a0other. \u00a0As I tell my boys, don\u2019t covet wealth too freely. \u00a0Us lesser folk often imagine having the wealth of Bill Gates as being something like having the wealth of Bill Gates, and able to go on about our lives as we normally do \u2013 just with the wealth of Bill Gates. \u00a0But it doesn\u2019t work that way. \u00a0To have the wealth of Bill Gates, you have to become Bill Gates. \u00a0You have to have the priorities, the lifestyle, the dedication to wealth and industry that makes it impossible to be what leads to that much wealth and influence. \u00a0Have that much wealth, and you\u2019ll cease forever being what you are now, including the things you currently enjoy.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s like that with Christmas, I suppose. \u00a0The Newtown shooting shattered those families\u2019 lives forever. \u00a0They also overthrew the calm of the rest of us who have hearts. \u00a0And yet, as reflections on the Coventry Carol demonstrate<\/a>, the original \u2018Christmas\u00a0Season\u2019 was anything but a single day event ending a month long spending spree. \u00a0It wasn\u2019t even cozy fires with chestnuts and family get\u00a0togethers.\u00a0 \u00a0It was God invading the created\u00a0universe\u00a0to do something that had never been done, and would never be repeated. \u00a0And those involved would be changed forever. \u00a0All of us would be changed, potentially for\u00a0the\u00a0good, as the chorus of angels proclaim: a savior for all people, or the pain of living: a sword would pierce Mary\u2019s heart, and Rachel would weep for her children and refuse to be comforted, because they are no more.<\/p>\n

So yes, this year has been far less than the story book,\u00a0Christmas\u00a0card Christmases of years past. \u00a0It doesn\u2019t equal the joy in our\u00a0first\u00a0Christmas with our oldest, or our last\u00a0Christmas\u00a0with all our boys, or any Christmas growing up where I wanted Atari\u2019s Space\u00a0Invaders<\/i>\u00a0more than oxygen! \u00a0But it has given me time to think and reflect. \u00a0I often say I want God to show me direction. \u00a0What is it really I\u2019m asking? \u00a0Am I prepared to follow that star, or drink that cup as Jesus would say? \u00a0Or am I just wanting an extra piece of divine furniture to round out the Christmas portrait that will be placed alongside the rest of the celebrations throughout the years? <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"