Wednesday, December 4, 2013

the Holiness midwife

{photo via dramaticelegance}
dear you,

yes, you, the one with the Charlie Brown Christmas tree and the pile of tangled lights. you, with the expectation piling up in droves around you while sparkling decorations and Christmas carols threaten to drown you in a haze of grief and overwhelming fog.

it's okay.

it's okay to shut down Pinterest and buy cookie dough from the store. it's okay to leave the elf off the shelf and the cardboard star hanging sideways off the top of the tree.

it's okay to bury your head in your hands and sob to the tune of Jingle Bell Rock because you're too exhausted and worn down to turn the radio off.

because that's not the point, is it?

this is the season of Word becoming Flesh, the season of being stripped down to beyond the nothing. sometimes, it's even a time of fear. because waiting can be scary when you can't see beyond that curve in the road. it's a pregnancy, an expectant quivering. it is a cracking, an opening cervix through which blood will stain and Life will come.

it's the time of imperfection. if we were perfect, there would be no need for this season, for this waiting for the cry of One who came to gather us into Himself. for the One born of blood who came to bleed. He was born to stain, to leave a mark on all He touched.

He was not born for tidy.

it's okay to let go. to relax and let it come. we scream through the contractions and labour through the waiting. the Holiness is the midwife to this birthing, strong enough to bear it all.

and so you, you dear beautiful expectant soul. there is so much permission here. there is permission to breathe and pause. there is permission to quiver. there is permission to be imperfect.

sometimes you have to fight to find the sacred in the Advent. sometimes, you light a candle amid the piles of dishes on the kitchen counter and close your eyes and whisper,

i am waiting, i am listening. 


{this is another in my Story prompt series. would you joint us? there is always room for you}

3 comments:

  1. "sometimes you have to fight to find the sacred" !!!!!! Yes! And dear one, there are many, many times I've it a candle in my kitchen, the one and only clean and beautiful thing in the middle of an overwhelming mess. The holy often comes to us in the mess, where we least expect it.

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  2. this is beautiful. You reframed Christmas for me, I love that. A time of imperfection -- if we were perfect there would be no need for Him.
    Thank you.

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  3. Dear Rachel
    I have been out of town for a few days and couldn't read much. What an absolute pleasure to be able to read two of your posts one after the other. Yes, dear sister, we really need to seek the One who's birthday we celebrate amongst all the shining trivia of this season. But we have learned that He doesn't decorate a tree, He lives deep in our hearts where He is the Bethlehem Star that shines through our lives.
    Blessings XX
    Mia

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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