Jer 33:14-16 / 1 Thes 3:12-4:2 / Lk 21:25-28, 34-36
I have a little verse for you, just four lines. So listen closely.
Yesterday is history.
Tomorrow is a mystery.
Today is a gift.
That’s why we call it the present!
So what are we going to do with this marvelous present that God keeps giving us? Will we fritter it away? Will we let it slip through our hands? Will we have nothing left when our present is all used up?
Just a few weeks from now, on the day after Christmas, as we take down the tree, pack up the ornaments, clean up the mess, and look with incredulous eyes at the mountain of bills, will our hearts feel empty? Will we feel disappointed and somehow betrayed? Will we be wondering what all that shopping and cooking, decorating and dressing up was for?
The answer to all that is not for fate to decide. It’s for us. Because what happens to us on December 26th and how we feel then hinges on our remembering now what all the shopping, cooking, and decorating is about. And what it’s about is building communion!
All the work of Christmas is about renewing the bonds that bind us to one another and to the Lord, reweaving the ties that have been strained or broken, and reaching out with open hearts to build new bonds, new ties.
If we remember that we’ll know inside how to handle "The Present" these next four weeks. The gifts we buy will make sense in the larger scheme of things. How we decide to spend these days and how we decide not to spend them will make sense. And so will the way we are hosts, and the way we are guests — reaching out and pulling everyone inside the circle of our care and concern. It will all make sense; if only we remember.
The calm we keep at our center during these busy days will tell all who see us that we know what "Our Present" is about, that we know what matters and what does not. And because of that, we ourselves will be a special gift to those who know us.
Today is a gift, and that is why we call it "The Present." May none of us forget that as this wonderful season begins to unfold!