Subject: Preapred in advance by my mom - A.

A message from one of my own personal angels, which breaks my heart a little, though it fills me with joy. She manages to capture so much of what I feel, and so much of what I want to say about Christmas. I'm sure she prepared many of these notes for the many she looked over and prayed for daily. Love you Colette.



Merry Christmas Fred!

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only." - Charles Dickens

My sentiments exactly about the season I find myself in. Best. Worst. Wisdom. Foolishness. Belief. Incredulity. Light. Dark. Hope, Despair. Everything. Nothing. Heaven. especially now...heaven. Christmas is a mixed bag for me. I absolutely detest the "Disneyfication of Christianity" (Don Cupitt) that much of 'the holidays' embodies. But it is in thinking about Christmas that I understand these words of Jesus, "Listen carefully: Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it is never any more than a grain of wheat. But if it is buried, it sprouts and reproduces itself many times over. In the same way, anyone who holds on to life just as it is destroys that life. But if you let it go, reckless in your love, you'll have it forever, real and eternal." (John 12:24-25)

The moment Jesus landed on this earth, taking meetings with Magi, and ensuring that manger making will forever be a respectable occupation, he started to die. Slowly at first, double speed as time went on. Joy to the world. Dead to the world. That truth helped me to embrace today more fully, appreciate it for what it really is...the beginning of a miraculous ending which was the cause and catalyst for countless miraculous beginnings, not the the other way around. As I write this Christmas is still a ways off, but I can sense things speeding up. There remains real joy in this for me. Clear eyed joy. Not wild and crazy too good to be true joy, but true enough to be good to me and for me joy. So today I will celebrate. Today I am excited, expectant, and energized about the beginning up ahead for me. So today, for me, follow the instructions of Jesus: let your love go, be reckless in it, because love never fails, never ends, never dies.

Love,
Colette