Sunday, December 1, 2013

a letter to December

dear December,

you begin on a Sunday this year, and i love that, because that's symmetry and my heart likes that. it feels right to begin at the beginning of the beginning.

you're permission for me. this is Advent, expectation of newness. it's always been sacred for me. it's not just you, December, with your specially marked pages and the little square boxes all in a row. because i'm more than just boxes, and you know that.

but then, so is He.

i feel so often like all the mystery has been drained out of Faith, that is is left only to words from experienced mouths, eyes that have read the same words but understand them "better." they tell us what to see, and our eyes must find focus or else we are assumed to be wanting.

but you, December. you, season of Advent. you, Son of Man. you, Word made Flesh. you are permission to embrace the mystery. you are the entryway into all the things that so many who walk in and out of those familiar doors find to be sacrilege.

but you come with a breath of icy cold and nights so dark they are almost blue and glittering whisper of a thousand stars. you come with heartache and tears and pain just as much as you come with sacredness and magic. you come with devastation and you come with expectancy.

but you are also a promise.

oh come, oh come, Emmanuel. 


{this is another in my prompt series from story sessions. we are a community of women, of writers, of seekers. join us?}

7 comments:

  1. yes, please come...this season of advent is one of anticipation you know...and waiting....we do drain the mystery out of faith and life...wanting to find safety in the expected and defined....we are def more than our boxes...and so is He

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love that song: O Come O Come Emmanuel! We posted about it recently. I love how it highlights a name of Jesus and then gives encouragement from the meaning. Thanks for your truth-telling about December!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh, perfect.

    -Monika

    ReplyDelete
  4. "you are permission to embrace the mystery."

    Such beautiful poetry in prose you write here, Rachel. I'm ready for the promise too. Oh come, oh come.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Dear Rachel
    Oh, my dear friend, my husband asked me earlier on if I have read your new post and now I knew why!! This is so fragile, so delicate, so filled with innocence that it fills my heart with such hope and joy. Yes, the mysterious "magic" of experiencing our Beloved, has been smothered by to many worldly things, and ways, and words, and whatever else. But that invitation of our Lord Jesus to come to Him and abide in His Loving Embrace is forever and nothing in this world can take that blessings away from us. That union in Him is not of this world.
    Blessings XX
    Mia

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh, by the way, this flower that is my thumbnail today, is called the Protea, South Africa's national flower.
    XX

    ReplyDelete
  7. so true...the point of the season is not to wear yourself out...or create this artificial peace in tinsel and lights...we have so many expectations we put on the holidays, it def becomes and exercise in missing the point...

    ReplyDelete

I look at you and see all the ways a soul can bruise, and I wish I could sink my hands into your flesh and light lanterns along your spine so you know there's nothing but light when I see you. :: Shinji Moon