Don’t do anything for at least the next three minutes

or however long it’ll take you to scroll through this post.           .           .

Q       U       E       S       T       I       O       N :

When  is  I T ?

When did  IT

WHEN   WILL  IT

first   come   to   you   this   year?

When    W     I     L     L  

I T   L E A V E?

First present?

Last Present?

Somewhere in between parties or when you hit the pillow after some chaotic days?

Or has it already   G   O   N   E

before it has actually   C   O   M   E

I   am   a   firm

K       N       O       W  ‘   E       R  

that  Christmas,

or any other special holiday/event

doesn’t   so   much   come   on   a   day   or   for   a   Season,

b u t   i n

M       O       M       E       N       T       S

Last year.       .       .

I’ve  already  had  a  varied  assortment  of

M       O       M       E       N       T       S

over these past few days and weeks.       .       .

I bet you have, too.         .         .

I was at Costco shortly after Labor Day

and way before Halloween

and there were already Christmas Trees and lawn decorations

adoring the place

accompanied with Christmas Carols.          .          .

T        R       U       T         H:

I  think  it  starts  with  the

CHRISTMAS     IN    JULY

please-come-out-and-save-my-business-before-Christmas-gets-here-in-5-months-sales

We  always  have  a  way  of  celebrating  many  Christmases  during  the  holidays.         .         .   

and before and afterwards.     .     .

Any  M O M E N T S,  y e t ?

A Bell-Ringer outside of a grocery story proclaiming I must be a minister not because of my suit, tie, overcoat, but because I actually looked him in the eye and wished him a ‘Merry Christmas’ when I put a donation in his red kettle:

 A            M       O       M       E       N       T

Standing in Starbucks on Cyber Monday and the guy in front of me, telling the Barista that he was going to buy our drinks for the morning:

A              M       O       M       E       N       T

Conducting the Memorial service of a man I’d never met and assuring the small gathering of people that, “You haven’t heard the last of Steve,” and before I finished saying his name a flower pot dropping loudly to the floor from the side of his casket:

A              M       O       M       E       N       T

Seeing an awesome performance of The Messiah and during the warm-up the magic of the music
began a wave that became a tsunami of emotion;
it was like I saved a year full of tears
and numerous times during the performance they had
no problem flowing:

A            M       O       M       E       N       T

Walking into the Atrium of an Inpatient Unit and having four people pointing at me; when I walked up to them they turned their cell phone around showing me a picture of myself after they had just googled me to find me for possibly conducting the memorial service of their actively dying mother:

A            M      O      M      E      N      T

Seeing my grandchildren from the littlest
(the two year olds)
to the oldest,
(our 16 year old)
continuing to grow right before our eyes
and yet remain very child-like at the same time:

A            M       O       M       E        N       T

Waking up in the middle of the night and noticing that your holding a hand that’s clutching yours:

A         M       O       M        E        N        T

A song that comes on from your Shuffled Playlist at the exact time you really need to hear it but didn’t know that you did:

A          M        O       M       E       N       T

A phone call.          .          .

a Text. . .

a letter. . .

a chance meeting. . .

A   L   L               M     O     M     E     N     T     S.          .          .

It’s   NOT   if
M         O         M         E         N         T         S
ever  occur

as really if they ever

C       E       A       S       E  ?

Maybe the specialness of this Season

is just reserved to those who are actually

L O O K I N G   for   those   M O M E N TS ?

When  is  it?

What  MOMENT  does   IT  first come or

has   it  ?

Is  IT  still there or does it lay discarded.        .        .

cast aside like some soon to be useless wrapping paper?

We know, long ago as it has been told us,

“MARY KEPT THESE THINGS IN HER HEART. . .”

In his Classic, THE  OTHER  WISE  MAN, Henry van Dyke said,

“ARE YOU WILLING TO BELIEVE THAT LOVE IS THE STRONGEST THING IN THE WORLD–STRONGER THAN HATE, STRONGER THAN DEATH–AND THAT THE BLESSED LIFE WHICH BEGAN IN BETHLEHEM…(ALL THOSE) YEARS AGO IS THE IMAGE AND BRIGHTNESS OF ETERNAL LOVE?
THEN. . .THEN YOU CAN KEEP CHRISTMAS, AND IF YOU KEEP IT FOR A DAY, WHY. . .WHY NOT ALWAYS?”

It’s all about   M O M E N T S.         .         .

a  n  d ,

and just when isn’t there  ONE?

Maybe it’s not about  MOMENTS  at all.         .         .

Maybe it’s not about Noticing  MOMENTS.         .         .

Maybe it’s about just

C R E A T I N G      T H E M !

C H R I S T M A S ‘e d.         .         . 

If   you’re   going   to   be   TENSE—

why  not   BE   the   PRESENT    ONE .   .   .   ?

Here’s  to  your

M          O          M          E          N          T

and the many more to follow.       .       .

M          O          M          E          N          T          S :

They’re to be Made.       .       .

They’re to be Shared.       .       .

They’re to be enjoyed.       .       .

They’re to be NOTICED!

THEY’RE   TO   BE   LIVED   AGAIN

AND  AGAIN

AND AGAIN

A  N  D .          .          .

Had  any

M   O   M   E   N   T   S

lately?

They are like puzzle pieces

spread across a table top

begging to be put together.        .       .

The problem?

We most likely miss many more

than we notice.          .          .

and those might just be the most special ones of all

because it’s not always what we notice

but what we don’t recognize

that matters most!

Hit the

PAUSE    BUTTON

it’s  not  a  matter  of  it  all  coming  to  you

as you just seeing

that  it’s  already  been  here

and  never  leaves.         .        .

even  if  you  never  arrive

even  if  you  have  long  left

IT

.             .          .Get  Christmas’ed

and give a little of it.       .       .

The MOMENTS

you give

just might be the most

important MOMENTS

of all

and then maybe the greatest

D       I       S       C       O       V       E       R       Y

of all will be

u          n          w          r          a          p          p          e          d

m          a          y          b          e

.          .          .m a y b e

it really is up to you

and that might be the best news of all.          .          .

It’s that I adore Christmas.          .          .

Every year

Every Season

Every Month

Every Week

Every Day

Every Minute

Every Second

OF   IT.          .          .

W           H             Y ?

Here’s   a   little   Explanation:

When   A N O T H E R

says something

better than you  could ever

u  t  t  e  r

w r i t e

r e c i t e.        .        .

Give’em the Stage

and the Microphone

and most definitely,

T H E    S P O T L I G H T

and   don’t   shut   up

so   much   as   really

L                 I                 S                 T                 E                 N :

This Henry van Dyke story is featured in our collection of Christmas Stories. and Short-Short Stories to read when you have five minutes to spare. You might enjoy his other works, The Other Wise Man and The First Christmas Tree

It is a good thing to observe Christmas day. The mere marking of times and seasons, when men agree to stop work and make merry together, is a wise and wholesome custom. It helps one to feel the supremacy of the common life over the individual life. It reminds a man to set his own little watch, now and then, by the great clock of humanity which runs on sun time.

But there is a better thing than the observance of Christmas day, and that is, keeping Christmas.

Are you willing to forget what you have done for other people, and to remember what other people have done for you; to ignore what the world owes you, and to think what you owe the world; to put your rights in the background, and your duties in the middle distance, and your chances to do a little more than your duty in the foreground; to see that your fellow-men are just as real as you are, and try to look behind their faces to their hearts, hungry for joy; to own that probably the only good reason for your existence is not what you are going to get out of life, but what you are going to give to life; to close your book of complaints against the management of the universe, and look around you for a place where you can sow a few seeds of happiness–are you willing to do these things even for a day? Then you can keep Christmas.

Are you willing to stoop down and consider the needs and the desires of little children; to remember the weakness and loneliness of people who are growing old; to stop asking how much your friends love you, and ask yourself whether you love them enough; to bear in mind the things that other people have to bear on their hearts; to try to understand what those who live in the same house with you really want, without waiting for them to tell you; to trim your lamp so that it will give more light and less smoke, and to carry it in front so that your shadow will fall behind you; to make a grave for your ugly thoughts, and a garden for your kindly feelings, with the gate open–are you willing to do these things even for a day? Then you can keep Christmas.

Are you willing to believe that love is the strongest thing in the world–stronger than hate, stronger than evil, stronger than death–and that the blessed life which began in Bethlehem nineteen hundred years ago is the image and brightness of the Eternal Love? Then you can keep Christmas.

And if you keep it for a day, why not always?

But you can never keep it alone.      

L                 I                S                T                E                N :