The Pastor’s Argot - “Christmas Clutter”
Don’t tell anyone, but I’m writing this column on my vacation time. Shhh. As many knew, I was going to spend this vacation cleaning up my house. My goal was to clean up and better organize at least one room each day, with the understanding that one of those “rooms” was the garage. I haven’t been able to get my van in the garage since May. Three days into my five day vacation and so far so good. I can go into my basement room without hurting myself, the dresser in the office is holding the music collection rather than serving as desk overflow, and my work in the downstairs pantry area has created a lot more space to stow my clutter. Ah yes, how I love my clutter.
I did throw out a couple things. You know those tapes that Bill Newmeyer copied for me back in 1987? I haven’t listened to them since 1988, so out they went…all two of them. I managed to clear out about six cardboard boxes of stuff. I didn’t get rid of the stuff, just the boxes. The stuff is more organized, or in other words, my stuff is more stuffed. Eventually, I really do plan to clear out some of the stuff, but first I have to turn all the clutter into stuff. Then I can get rid of the stuff. Got it? In a cardboard box it’s clutter. Jigsawed onto shelves and into drawers makes the clutter become stuff. Unfortunately I know what can very likely happen. Instead of getting rid of the stuff I have, I will actually get more stuff, and since I have no more room to stuff my stuff, it will become clutter. You know, even this paragraph seems a bit cluttered. Oh well.
Here comes Christmas. Christmas is full of good stuff such as family, presents, football, food, parties, and the like. We really fill up the holiday with all that stuff. In fact, there is so much stuff to do, we start celebrating Christmas even before Thanksgiving. Don’t believe me? I think I saw Christmas decorations in stores the day after Halloween. Do you see the problem? There is so much Christmas stuff going on that it becomes clutter. Christmas becomes scattered here, there, and everywhere. Our lives become cluttered with Christmas oriented stuff, that instead of truly celebrating Christmas, we begin to dread it. By December 26, when Christmas is only in it’s second day, we are ready to recycle it with the used Christmas gift wrap.
So my friends, I’ve got a challenge for you. Sit down, take a deep cleansing breath, and ponder how you can make you Christmas season less cluttered. Maybe you don’t have to go to ten parties, or make a dinner for 30 people, or hit all the sales. Maybe you can instead focus on the truly good stuff of Christmas, the really important stuff, the stuff that opens your heart rather than clutter mind. Remember that first and foremost Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Christ. Remember that the theme of Christmas is not supposed to be clutter and chaos, but peace and love. Have a blessed Christmas.
-Pastor Rob
God’s blessings…our heritage.
God’s children…our friends.
God’s world…our mission.
God’s work…our hands.
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