Luke 1:14 - Beauty out of Inconvenience

Luke 1:14 “And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth”

Swirling snow, pushed by a cold, brisk wind, crossed my vision at work. Occasionally the wind would form snow cyclones (snownados?) which would grab up all the snow for twenty or so feet around it and travel about the same amount of space before dying out. It was gorgeous. Really, it was. The only problem was that I was working. From when I first realized that the snow was falling I was complaining about it. Finally, with the doors to the hanger wide open and while I was waiting for an airplane to get pushed out I found myself  staring out the hanger doors into the cold wind and dancing snow flurries. I had nothing else to do and with my scarf around my face I was starting to feel my nose again, so I watched the snow and wind dance around. I was captivated. I realized that I had been complaining about the snow without having taken the time to appreciate it. The less I complained and the more I observed and watched the snow, the better I felt and the less upset at the weather I became. I had been missing all the beauty and delight, this joyful salsa of south bound snowflakes, because I saw only the inconvenience to me.

This is the season of advent. Stores are full, merchandise is overpriced and sales seem to actually have higher price tags than the products had a couple months ago.  Everywhere you go you will see frozen smiles on people who are too much in a hurry and too inconvenienced by everyone else to truly appreciate the beauty of Christmas and the delight in this season. To most of us, Christmas has become synonymous with commercialism and greed while hypocritically preaching peace, joy, and satisfaction. Perhaps we have been looking at it all wrong. If we sat back, removed ourselves from the immediate bustle of the crowds and looked to actually watch and observe this season we would rekindle our love and appreciation for it. Our stress would fade away as we watch the intricate dance of Love being played out across the whole world and across the years. 

So this next week, lets focus more on why Christmas is celebrated and renown rather than how. Lets relearn our appreciation and slowly we will relearn and regain our joy and gladness. Lets see the beauty rather than the inconveniences.