Tag life

Santa Moments

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I have been given the golden opportunity to play Santa for others. I have the full costume, the padding (all mine), white hair, and white beard (also all mine). I get stopped by kids and families often when I wear red out in public during this time of year. It has created many opportunities to see families at work, creating memories, and playing with the most fun aspects of the seasonal mythology. I am just the stage prop for pictures with the opportunity to engage and watch.

One five year old joined me at the chair. I asked if she was on the naughty or nice list. She assured me, in the most convincingly sincere manner, that she was on the “nice” list before shooting her father the unmissable silent command to back her up. He responded with a silent, but clear facial signal, that she was safe because he had her back. Santa would not get any evidence or comments to the contrary. They were great!

Sometimes being Santa is like watching a taffy machine working the candy to the precise perfection needed. Families come in pulling on each other from every direction: loving, being loved, needing help, sharing forgiveness in as many directions as it is being required by self and others. They manifest all the push and pull of loving well and not so well to terribly. They are processing life together in a way that shows the many levels and dimensions in the struggle to love, be loved, and be lovable. They are simultaneously making mistakes and learning to repair or deal with them.

They are actively engaged in the process of being family and showing how intimate and necessary the process is for life. It is miraculous and unique in each family. People miss all the finely tuned moments of life by only measuring love in the big moments when it is the brass band instead of when it is the breeze in the tree tops or the rustle of leaves on the ground. I see God in all these small, messy relationship connections that build a family into viable and critically important unit of personal and community life.

It is truly a life resource that is under attack and in constant need of protection. Christmas is a time where great healing and unity is possible for those who believe and pursue God in their daily lives.

Vacation

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I have often thought that I could have a great vacation if I could be a (blank: fill in your own prejudice here) for a week. I don’t think I would want to be this for more than a week because I might grow into it and never leave. But consider the short term relief of being a (blank).

As a (blank) is never wrong, there would be no self recriminations or doubts about your behavior, thoughts, or feelings. You would be free of concern for other’s feelings. It would naturally be their fault if you did anything that harms them in mind, body, or soul. They should have known better. It would be perfectly correct to blame others for things I may have done or caused because a (blank) has no faults. There would be no need for gratitude because a (blank) deserves every good or blessing that comes as a right and privilege of being who/what he/she/it is.

Consider the opposite. Think about how much time you are consumed in concern for others. Don’t count the concern you have for your own needs because that is the human condition. Think about the concern you have that impacts others, whether you’ve helped or harmed, and to what degree. Consider the amount of energy you spend going out of your way for others. Consider the time you take caring for others in priority over your own needs. These considerations provide a measure of how far you have moved away from being a (blank). It may actually reveal to you how much distress it would cause you to be a (blank) for a week even though you might want the rest.

I’ve decided I prefer my current frustrations over being a (blank) for a week. I prefer the little humility I might have over the ego a (blank) exudes. I have closeness in friendships and family that a (blank) will never attain. The rewards of the caring frustrations outweigh any possible benefit to being a (blank). I agree that love is more powerful and beneficial in all its inconveniences than selfishness could ever gain by its cruelties.