Extravagant Love

Yesterday I was perusing my Twitter account which is a questionable activity anyway but arguably more dubious when the hashtag TrumpResign is trending worldwide.  I teetered between laughter at the cleverness of the memes, unease at the thought of our neighbour to the south being in disarray, and mild panic because Christmas is days away.  In between the political satire and commentary, I came across a post by a lady from Regina who confessed to having a major meltdown at her desk that morning because of the stress of Christmas.  I could identify although having a meltdown at my desk would be far less dramatic as I work from home and only Kanti would know.  If you happen to be feeling like having a meltdown over the advent of Christmas, you aren't alone.

Most years I love Christmas but this year I just want it to be over.  For someone who takes pride in keeping it together, I have been struggling the last month or so.  I express the sentiment here with reservation, fully aware I have many things to be thankful for and feeling guilty for indulging in the confession.  But this is real life.  Sometimes it just doesn't feel the way you want it to feel and if you happen to be feeling listless about the advent of Christmas, you aren't alone.

I wondered how I would write about love for the fourth week of Advent as I waded around in the mental muck of listlessness wishing Christmas done.  There are decorations heaped on the sideboard.  I managed to get them out of the boxes a couple of weeks ago but they haven't moved since.  I tried to buy presents, but I got so cranky every time I went into a store that I left.  Last week I had a routine dental appointment and when the dentist tried to make small talk about Christmas and was I ready - I responded rather tartly, "I really don't want to talk about Christmas."  

That was so un-joy and un-Joy like I embarrassed myself.  Although I must share, I did have a twinge of 'you go girl' at the same time the minor guilt of being rude washed over me.  However, there was something kind of liberating about being forthright and I truly did not want to talk about Christmas.  Given that mental reality, I wondered how I would write about love this week.

I committed to an advent series and love was the last stop.  Giving up isn't in my nature even when I am in the dumps.  Years ago, I read a book on marriage in which the author suggested relationships would go through patches where you really wouldn't like each other.  Imagine that!  More real life.  The author said that was okay.  It was possible to not like someone and still choose to love them.  

I kind of feel that way about Christmas this year.  I'm not liking it, at all.  I'm not liking the void caused by death, the awful jingly music in the stores, the buying of gifts just because, or the expectations of our culture.  But I am choosing to love the underlying richness of the Christmas story - a story of love for a broken, cranky, struggling world.  It's the story we all need right now more than ever. 

Christmas is a way of living and choosing grounded in love, not just any love but extravagant love.  That concept transcends our divisive boundaries between religious beliefs and provides a common ethos for living.   No matter how sad or cranky I get, reading 1 Corinthians 13 is a powerful reminder of how to live Christmas love every day.  So if you aren't in the mood for all the Christmas hype, shift the focus to extravagant love and check out this Christmas Medley by Anthem Lights. Let's get through this craziness in one piece by choosing extravagant love.  Merry Christmas from the swake.