We go to Christmas parties. We go look at Christmas lights. We go to the store to buy pounds of chocolate. We go to work. We go to friends’ homes for celebrations. We go to Christmas programs at school. We go to church. We go to see our family- near or far. We go to every last possible store to find the right present…. Or we go to the nearest store and say good riddance to traffic. But regardless of whomever you are, single, or married, young or old, teenager, or middle-aged, in December we go and we go and we go.
And for
the most part, it is wonderful. It’s part of what makes Christmas in America-
the parties, the lights, the food, the Christmas gatherings with family and
friends, the beautiful church services, the Christmas programs. They bring
memories and laughter, and it seems like cameras never get used quite so much
as they do the last 31 days of the year!
And
yet, in the midst of all of that going, one of my favorite words is “Come.”
As a little
girl, my dad would get home from work, and come upstairs to my room, sit on my
bed and say “come here”. I would
climb in his lap and sit there as he fell asleep. The goal was for the opposite
to happen, that he would sit and hold me until I
fell asleep, but invariably, he conked out first. But I loved it. I would
sit very still so I wouldn’t wake him in order for the moments to last a little
longer.
As a kid,
when I would visit my Grandparents, and my Grandma would motion to me and
whisper the words “Come here”, and
as I followed her, a smile would light up my face because I knew there would be
something special for me in the next room…sometimes it was one of my favorite
cookies that she would slip to me without my mom seeing, sometimes she would
take me to her favorite chair and paint my nails, or sometimes she just talked
to me, but in that talk she made me feel like the prettiest girl in the world.
As a
college student, when I was so far from home, I would listen to my parents voicemail
and hear “Just another week until you get to come home!” And it was that excitement of “coming home”, that joy
of knowing in a few days I would get to “come” into my parents’ hugs and my
siblings laughter that would give me the strength to study for that last final
and write that last paper.
As an
adult, when I had a particularly difficult week, and my best friend would text
me and say “Come over.” And I would
walk in her door, pet her dogs, play with her kids, and sip ice water on the
couch and just talk.
At the
end of a long day, when my husband sits beside me on the couch and says “Come here” as he pulls me into a hug
and just holds me.
As I
open the Word of God and hear Jesus telling me…
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you
rest….I have come so that you might have life and life to the full.”*
Come.
There’s
something so refreshing in a word so simple.
So as
you gather around friends and family, don’t hesitate to say “come” to someone
in the midst of the going. It might be just the moment they need.
And, please, in
the craziness of going this December, remember to take the time to “come” to
Christ. Let him give you the rest you need, and the life you desire.
