Day 24 of Advent: when community keeps Christmas

Last Wednesday was a hard day.

Both boys decided to skip their naps, Travis was working to get his last paper of the semester done, and I was in my own world, trying to hold everything together.

You could say we’d lost a little of our Christmas spirit that day.

You could say we were tired.

But then, community came ’round.

In the early afternoon, Debra delivered snacks and presents for the boys.

In the evening, Cecil and Keith– one with tickets to an event, another with a bluegrass CD.

Community is the very essence of the Miracle-Savior when it rescues you from yourselves like this.

Community came to our door and the Spirit seemed to lasso the cosmos right into our space,

seemed to make the world tiny and good again, seemed to remind us

that what happened in a stable-cave all those years ago

still brings every bit of relevance

to us today.

At Christmas, community

is the hands and feet of the

Infant-Babe,

stretched across generation

after generation

after generation

right into our tiny

two-bedroom apartments and our

four person families.

Christmas is only a few days away,

and as our anticipation grows,

so does our thanksgiving.

Today, we are thankful for community,

for the life it breathes into our most

tired of days.

Hallelujah and amen.