The extraordinary gifts the Christ Child offers me freely, can at times, overwhelm me. My efforts to follow in his footsteps feel so underwhelming compared to what He gives to me. I’m not sure I feel worthy of that kind of love and attention but Ebenezer Scrooge made me revisit those thoughts. Perhaps simple ordinary kindness is all the Christ Child is looking for.
In the classic Christmas tale, Dickens paints a picture of a young man who endured great personal suffering and who almost angrily seeks revenge for the rest of his life, inflicting great pain on all those around him. This fully human, incredibly flawed man is for some reason blessed with the wildly extraordinary experience of being visited by three Christmas spirits who lavish him with their attention, all in an effort to help him transform.
Amazingly, he flies through open windows and has visions of the past and future as people walk through his ghostly body. All this extraordinaire does eventually change him but his response to all this lavish attention did not equal in magnificence, his actions did not mirror the wildly extraordinaire, instead what this changed man did was quite the opposite. It was blessedly ordinary.
Ebenezer just decided to be kind, generous, loving. He acknowledged the hard work of his maid and gave her a decent wage, offering her the respect and dignity she deserved. He finally accepted his nephew’s marriage and the relationship choices he had made. Ebenezer decided his job was not to convince everyone to see things his way but to simply love them, to help them be the best person they could be. Instead of turning the faucet off on love, he turned it on full blast and told Bob Crachit he wanted to help him raise that family of his. Ebenezer Scrooge made it really quite simple. So did Jesus, utterly, plainly, simply beautiful.
In preparing for the birth of Jesus, we may remember those we have forgotten, neglected or even wronged over the past year. Sometimes we get caught up looking for that wildly incredible gesture that could make amends. We want to fly through walls and do anything to make it all better, but what? Small gestures, a card or phone call doesn’t feel like enough. So, we sit and wait and hesitate and wait some more for the right moment, the right extraordinary idea to come along. The actions Ebenezer made were so small and ordinary but they meant everything in the world, to those he touched, including Ebenezer himself.
Dear Baby Jesus,
Help me get unstuck from waiting, hesitating and waiting some more. Help me take the smallest step forward with You. Wrap your little hand around my finger and make the rest unfold. If some extraordinary idea does not come to me, help me to leave it with the visiting angel spirits and just try a small act of kindness instead. It worked for Ebenezer, it can work for me too. With You all things are possible. Extraordinaire!
Amen
God bless us, everyone!
Merry Christmas!
And God bless us, everyone!
