sinking in

i have been a willing audience to some profound winter skies and sunsets as of late. 

The sky might have to turn out the lights a LOT earlier these days (much to my summer hearts dismay), but she is going out with a bang for all that.

At the house I nanny in, there is this little outdoor window made between two houses across the cul de sac, and most nights i gaze out one little door window into the great outdoors window to watch the sunshine melt into the warmest pinks and oranges and bluish greenish yellowish hues.

I lean my head against the door and, to quote Anne Shirley, let it “sink into my soul”.  The soul sinking is pretty necessary these days around 5ish because by then my soul is a bit weary from having spent the day with a rather strong willed 4 year old.  

It is in those quiet moments that i witness God’s Love for me specifically.  I fancy that He would have made those sunsets that beautiful, even if He knew the only soul that would let it sink into would be me.  It stirs the embers of my desire for beauty and makes me hope for more, in this life and the next.

At this time of year when the gears seem to shift into hyper speed, it is really important, i believe, to have those soul sinking moments.  To stand before beauty that is quiet and unobtrusive-the kind that doesn’t demand or require attention-and see His Love there. 

one of those rare times i could look directly at the sun

Because it is always there.  Always.  Amid the carols, commercialism, and candy canes, the last minute presents to buy, the cooking to be planned, the groceries to be bought, the people to visit with once more before the new year- He is that little whisper of Love beckoning you to leave it all for a while and come to visit Him in a stable in the dark and cold night.  With the stars for night lights, the sheep for fellow visitors, and the Holy Family for warmth and joy.  

He is on His way.  Let us allow the reality of what Christmas is for all of us, ever-so-gently, sink into our souls.  

4 days seems short, but a heck of a lot can be done in 4 days.  It is plenty of time for the Creator of time to bestow upon us immeasurable graces, mercies and blessings.  All we must do is ask.  Ask Him for time to do all we need, plus have time for some soul sinking moments of beauty. We shall receive that and more than we asked for besides.  Because that’s just the kind of God we serve.

What's helping you sink it in? 

For me, it's the Christmas lights framing homes and piercing the darkness in a whimsical, rainbowish manner, causing me to slow down on the drive home for some sinkage. 

It is the gas station that put the Holy Family right on the corner to remind us what Christmas is for and beckoning me again to pull over and appreciate another moment.

It is the old lady at noon Mass that sits behind me and always says hello--except yesterday she said “Merry Christmas and Happy New Year”.  She made me smile. 

It is the Christmas ties on the men, and the Christmas sweaters and shoes (yes, shoes-red ones, with what looks like one of those present bows that come in those big bags-the ones with the adhesive tape on them already) on the ladies at Mass on Sunday.  They made me smile.  It is the fact that we can now start saying Merry Christmases to everyone at the stores we interact with.  It is the spontaneous laughter of the precious 9 year old boy i take care of as he reads his required 30 minutes a day (and boy is that crazy long to him).

Most of all, it is a dark and quiet Church where the same Jesus that was wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger still waits for us to come and adore Him.

Venite Adoremus

4 days until Christmas.  
Let it sink into your soul.  

Good tidings of comfort and joy, dear sugar plum friends!