Does Christmas have a Messy Middle?

I think it might.

Have you ever heard that term in the productivity world?

The “messy middle” is the part of the project not at the exciting, adrenaline-filled beginning or the euphoric, 99% of the work is done and you can see the finish line, end.  But that part in the middle, when the fatigue sets in and you feel like there is still is so far to go.

Christmas can be like that!

Thanksgiving wisks us into the Christmas season. Floating on tidings of good news of great joy, we pull out decorations, hum carols, light candles, stroll quaint shops, buy presents, attend concerts and festive gatherings with friends we only see once a year.

I can just imagine the Lord smiling down on all of us.

Then, with packages to get to the post office, cards you didn’t have time to write and a few nights short on sleep, our bodies starts talking to us.  What you thought you could do during the Christmas season and what’s actually possible are two different things. We lose a little of our holiday jingle and kind of want to chuck the cookies, turn off the lights and head to Hawaii!

That may be option #1. But not really what we want to do. There’s a magnificent alternative in option #2.  We’re at a glorious part of the season where we can “Let Go”.

Embrace what the season has already been.

Release what won’t fit this year.

Receive the last week before Christmas as a wondrous gift.

Did you know that this isn’t a conundrum peculiar to us; overbooked, 21st Century Christians? It has been happening for a long, long time.  I just discovered a part of the church calendar dedicated to exactly this!

You may have heard of the “12 Days of Christmas”, but have you ever heard of  "The Octave”? It’s so easy to rush through the season at a breakneck pace and end up Christmas Day completely numb, not sure it was what we hoped or what God intended it to be.

The “12 Days” follow Christmas Day encouraging us to savor the Savior’s birth. “The Octave”  begins 8 days before Christmas, rescuing us from the whirlwind just in time, inviting us to reorient ourselves;

Let go of all stress and receive the true gifts of Christmas God longs to bring.

I’m ready. To turn up my Christmas play list, enjoy Cookie Day and pedicures with my girls, revel in Sunday church and short, candlelit quiet times. Embrace simple wrapping with a heart full of gratitude for gift bags (that relieved us all from wrapping anxiety) and look forward to gathering Christmas Eve and our family’s sacred time, remembering Emmanuel, God with us, in the glow of the Christmas tree.

Thank you, Lord, for The Octave.

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Journal:  What is God inviting you to let go of, to enjoy the last week before Christmas?