It’s Christmas Eve. If you haven’t finished your shopping, it’s probably too late. The baking should be done by now and you can work on Christmas dinner tomorrow. It’s the hush before the angels sing.
Have you ever listened to snow? I remember, as a child sledding or maybe making snow angels, there would come a moment when I would lie in the snow, still. My brothers would be quiet and we’d just lie there, listening to the faint tinkle of snow falling to earth. That’s what today is. The soft sound, the gentle brush of ice crystals fitting themselves together perfectly.
Tonight we’ll go to church and sing Silent Night. One person will take up the Christ candle and begin passing the flame until we all stand, bathed in flickering light, singing like snow drifting over the hard edges of the world. No scurry, no hurry, just the pregnant pause before the birth of salvation.
That’s my wish for you today. Not quite silence, not quite stillness, but the peace of snow falling, falling until the whole world is clean and white.
Merry Christmas.