These impact your mind, engage your sensibilities and stir your emotions.
News of tragedy, disrupted lives, privation and loss that people suffer, may go right over some folks’ heads – especially if occurring on the other side of the country or the world. But not over yours; you’re sensitive. You wince, torn inside, because you’re already committed to supporting numerous causes, and are unable to accommodate yet another.
Who can
fault you for lapsing into a few wistful moments of retreat to squeeze comfort
from memories of good times and pleasant experiences past? – And from favourite comfort food? Although the year is young, its
infancy is about over, yet there’s time enough for the resumption of diet and
exercise routines or whatever you may have resolved on January 1st.
(Disclaimer: Don’t take
that as actual advice.) Point: even caring folks need a break from
clamouring calamity.Before I commenced framing these musings I went to the fridge and extracted a carton of eggnog, a vestige of the Christmas, New Year and Festive Season. I admit it. I’d spun this supply out as long as I could. It was still fresh, coddled in chilly recess at the back of the fridge.
Please don’t grimace if you can’t stomach that enchanting elixir of Christmas cheer, and I implore you not to judge me – at least not too harshly – for my sentimental eccentricity.
And so, I prepared a bold half-decaf coffee containing a generous dash of eggnog and milk. I ‘nuked’ it to bring the temperature back up to steaming hot and perched it nearby the computer, for sipping on the job, and then began these ramblings. Aahh, the festive season lives! But I know it’s really over once the stored up eggnog runs out.
What particularly
signals a season of the year or in your life truly over? You no longer cling to
it; you know it’s dead and gone. Each season in nature begins and ends,
although there can be overlap and fudging of the signs, such as when wintry
weather doesn’t come till well after winter’s official commencement, or we get
a premature blast in an early snow dump.
A woman holds
on to her wedding dress for years, picturing her daughter wearing it on her
wedding day. Tragically the girl dies young. The woman’s husband forsakes her
for another’s embrace, yet she occasionally plucks that cherished dress from the
closet and holds it to her cheek. Fresh tears fall, spotting the silken white
memory. Oh God, help him remember his vows; bring him home to me, she sobs. But no, he divorces
her.
It’s over.
The dress can now go. Although wounded she has no lack of love in her heart,
yet this is the first day of the rest of her life. It’s time to move on – but only
thoughtfully and prayerfully. Time to heal. And so, she presses on, with
gratitude for the good that was, for the good that is, and for the grace that
will lead her on to discover the good that God has in store.
The spirit
of Christmas lives on in grateful, loving hearts. The season’s festive trappings
are stored away and its comfort food and drink are gone for now. Nevertheless,
Jesus our Saviour, our Emmanuel – the God who is with us – comforts us along
life’s pathway. 
Photo Credits: Eggnog Cup: Polyvore.com
Wedding dress: A. Black; Wooded Trail: P. A. Black
Peter writes a weekly inspirational column and enjoys singing inspirational music and playing piano, organ and accordion, and encourages the upward focus. His latest book – "Raise Your Gaze ... Mindful Musings of a Grateful Heart" – reflects this in a variety of brief articles and stories:
"Parables from the Pond" – a children's/ family book (Word Alive Press)
"Raise Your Gaze . . . Mindful Musings of Grateful Heart (Angel Hope Publishing)
6 comments:
I love this nostalgic, almost sad, but true-to-life piece. There's a mood to it that I find comforting. Thank you, Peter.
Thank you, Rose. I see some homes in our community with Christmas and Holiday Season Decorations still displayed. They seem rather out of place now - at least, to me.
That prompts questions in my mind: Do some of the home owner / residents try to hold on to the joy of the season, afraid that to remove the decorations would lead to melancholy (in the sense of sadness and departed joy of the joyous season)? Or is it that the biz of life has led to procrastination in taking them down, and perhaps they go in and out of the home and no longer notice that those trappings are still displayed, although out of season? Well, that's the tricks my brain gets up to! :) ~~+~~
And then there's me with my simple unlit garland clinging tightly to the porch railings. I think that I do not remove it yet for it means I tuck away the sweet memories of a season that passes far too quickly - the snow, I am eager to let go of that. It's the love, joy, peace and family celebrations that I wouldn't mind enjoying a little longer. But like you say, our Saviour, Emmanuel reminds us to live them out each day post holidays!
Lovely thoughtful post, Peter and I'm with you with the eggnog - yum! Straight up with a dash of cinnamon & nutmeg for me, though.
Great thoughts, Peter. You and I share a fondness for eggnog in our decaf coffee.
One thing I don't share, Peter, is a love for eggnog, and like Glynis, I do hold on to Christmas at least until Epiphany when I consider the Christmas season done—or until the weather holds or I have the time to take them down. One wreath still hangs on my door, greenery with red berries that reflect nature and not bows and gifts of Christmas.
Thank you for your post. Thoughtful as always.
Yeah! I'm glad I do have some eggnog-loving company, Glynis and David. But Carolyn, I have to feel at least a small pang of sorrow for your lack of love for that treat! I'm sure you have other Christmas / Advent seasonal palate-tickling loves of your own, that others of us might not share. :) ~~+~~
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