Silent Night

We all have our one thing of Christmas. Each of us has one piece of the Christmas puzzle that lights our fire and brings a glow within. I have mine and you have yours. It can be that first taste of eggnog or warm apple cider. Maybe it’s the lights or the crowd at the mall. I know someone that starts to glow as they open the first old box of tree decorations. That glow never fades until the last bulb is put carefully away for another year.
Then there are those who experience the beauty of Christmas when it is wrapped in the warm glow of the parents, or grandparent glowing home on Christmas Eve. It’s the family and friends. If you are about my age, Christmas is bathed in memories of the past that sometime, many times, invade the present and we relive it every year no matter what life brings.
For me it’s being caught up in a feeling. A feeling that is transported through time and space. I feel it every year at possibly the same moment as it has for thousands of year. I believe what I see, feel, hear, and experience was akin to the night Jesus was born.
It might have been that moment at the Christmas Eve service when all the candles are lit and quietly we sing; “All is calm, all is bright...” But it’s not then. Everyone extinguishes their candle, we turn up the lights and everyone puts on their coat and calls out, “Merry Christmas”. But it’s not then either.
The conversation going home in the car is all about tomorrow and we talk about Jesus and Christmas and family and presents or forgotten ones. At this time I find myself relaxing, smiling and realizing that all the trappings of Christmas are put aside for a brief moment. Pulling into the driveway, we get out of the car and every year most of us run for the warmth of the fire and that cozy chair.
Me, I stop for a moment outside, feel the chill in the air and look up into the heavens. Much like the shepherd might have done. Maybe even as the Magi when they pitches camp each night on their trip to Bethlehem.  Then it gets very real to me, I experience the calmness of the silent night. No cars or people on the street. It’s very quiet and so, so, calm. It’s a brief moment of peace in this world that we all crave. I believe it was a night like this one that Mary experienced. Everyone was gone to bed and the quietness of that small town surrounded her as she lay holding Jesus. In the silence I catch her  looking into the face of her son, her God and lovingly bending down and being the first one to ever kiss the face of God.
I think about this same moment each and ever year and patiently wait for it’s coming. It’s my special moment when Jesus and Christmas comes together in the words that even now echo in my mind and my heart as Christ in me warms my heart like no other moment and I find myself singing again;
Silent Night, Holy Night,

All is calm, All is bright . . . 

Merry Christmas