What if Christmas came not on December 25, but on the first snowfall?
My friend Jim likes to ask this question to help us imagine how chaotic our preparations would become: how do we plan a huge, holiday feast on a moment's notice? Our Christmas shopping season would shift to August. And move over Disney and Cartoon channels, our kids' favorite TV program would be on the Weather Channel!
A drop in temperature to 32 degrees, the appearance of a storm cloud, the sighting of even the smallest of snowflakes would trigger alarms in stock exchanges, shopping malls, broadcast networks, and airports.
This is a timely exercise given this Sunday, the start of Advent, and the run up to Jesus's first coming, which is always predicated in Church by the contemplation of his Second Coming - at an unpredictable hour.
It's been said that, "power is influence over external events, and peace is influence over internal events."
Concentration camp survivor Viktor Frankl said, "Everything can be taken from humans but one thing... Our inner attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way. When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves."
In light of the fragility, unpredictability, and powerlessness of our lives, how might we cultivate inner peace at this time of year by reminding ourselves that God is with us, we will never be abandoned, and our final resting place is in love?
This spinning top of a world will continue to whirl out of control, but let's use Advent to gain control of that inner dialogue and attitude, focusing on the God who loves us, keeps us, and provides for us, no matter how or when it snows.
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