Sometimes....

It was Saturday. The mister was at work before dawn. I had planned to sleep in, but I woke up early. I filled  my five-cup coffee pot with water from the tap and the Christmas blend I had left over from 2012. The weather reports had been predicting a warming trend. I opened the front door. The sun was brightly shining and the fresh air was clean and crisp. I breathed it in deep. The lone glitter wreath sparkled where it was carelessly hung on the door. It was the only festive item I had out, and it happened by default as I had found it while rearranging the dining area.

Sometimes you don't see the stagnant until you touch the fresh anew.

I poured myself a cup of coffee and went outside. It was a quiet morning. The skies were bright blue with a few scattered clouds. I sat in silence on an old, weathered bench in the front yard. I closed my eyes as the heat of the sun kissed my face and warmth of the Son touched my soul. Then the sun hid behind some passing clouds, and the breeze turned instantly cool.

And sometimes you don't realize what was hidden until it is found again.

For most people, Christmas is just one day; Christmastide (the Twelve Days of Christmas) is not observed. I think most people spend December 26 trying to clean up Christmas and subsequently fill the recycling bin with discarded wrapping paper. This year, I am anxious to slowly unwrap it. To delve deeper. It's a real page-turner, you know. So, I spent some time reading about Saint Stephen {today is his feast day}. He was the first Christian martyr. He was a deacon who served faithfully. He called the Sanhedrin out on their crap: "And you continue, so bullheaded! Calluses on your hearts..." from Acts 7. And it's meant for me, too.

Sometimes grace, the kind that sent a babe here for the cross, hits you hard and busts open the stagnant places in your heart. And you realize the One was not hidden after all.

{And this post feels unfinished, yet I have nothing else to say. As I sit here, quietly listening to Christmas hymns, I somehow think it is exactly how it's meant to be}

Happy Christmastide. xo. Jadie