Being Here

Yes, it is December 30… and yet it’s still Christmas. Technically it’s the Christmas season, but it needs to be pointed out because our society tends to move on to the next thing the first minute it can. So it was likely December 26 when people began sprinting to New Year’s Eve, sure, but even more so to 2021.

Get 2020 out of here. I get it, but one of the most important things Christmas teaches us, is to be fully present.

There is an ancient story where the Divine calls Moses to go up a mountain and then stay there. The wording is actually quite interesting,

The LORD said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and be here…”

Come here and be here? That’s a bit redundant, yes? The rabbis have a field day with this in their endless commentary. The Divine tells Moses to stay put because the rabbis know that at the point at which someone arrives somewhere, that person is immediately thinking about what’s next. So for Moses, he would immediately be thinking about how to get down the mountain.

So the Divine says stay here. Be here, be fully present.

This is as much emotionally and mentally staying put, maybe even more so, than it is physically.

This is what Mary teaches us as the shepherds find the infant Jesus, and then they run off to tell the world what they had found. And all who heard it were amazed…

“But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” First, Mary treasures, which the Greek word means to preserve or to keep within one's self. And then Mary ponders, which the Greek word means to bring together, to take the time to collect in one’s mind.

To hold on to this moment as well as the meaning of this moment. To be here, to be fully present, and to enjoy the grace that is now.

Let’s not run ahead, let’s enjoy every moment that is this Christmas season. Yes, I am looking forward to a new year, but what is good for my soul is…

Being here.