It’s the 21st
of December, the solstice, the anniversary of my father’s death, and more to
the point, four days until Christmas.
There are very few events or celestial movements that take precedence
above the list of purchases to make, dry cleaning to drop off, packages to
wrap, parties to attend, bills to pay, sermons to write, pastoral calls to
make, items to return to their point of purchase, gifts to procure from a
spectrum of sources, devious and straightforward, cards to write, address,
stamp, and mail. The only way to keep
track of this chaos is ‘the list.’
My wife is a
blessing in many ways. Her ability to
bring some sort of order to a chaotic universe is one of them. In her infinite wisdom, she knows better than
to attempt to push and shove all these discordant entities and vectors toward
an order that she has determined. Her
experience as a single parent has taught her that this is a waste of
energy. Rather, she composes, magically,
bringing it to being from the bits and pieces of sensed and known dynamics,
capabilities and possibilities, arcs and planes, the answer to all our worry and
lack of understanding. It seems to be
just a piece of discarded envelope with numbers and words, paper-clipped to
coupons and receipts, but we all know that this is what all magic is made of,
common elements, herbs and minerals gathered together in to proper way, bits
and pieces seeming so common until they are joined with words and motions, each
exactly right. Words like, ‘Well, we’ll
be over there, it makes sense to drop by their house. We’ll only stay a minute. Then we’ll go to the mall. We can get Starbuck’s while we’re there. That will hold us up until lunch.’ See what I mean? You’d never know that magic was brewing. Magic that holds the world together. Magic that allows all the insanity of this
crazy season to become Christmas.
