These are various reflections of life, living, culture, and faith and how all these many and varied threads
mingle and coalesce to bring spiritual insights and newness along life's precarious journey.

Friday, December 14, 2012

A Newspaper Boy's Advent: Peace



A Paper Boy’s Advent: Peace
It was long before Mp3 players, iPods, and Walkmans that I delivered papers to retail stores throughout the downtown and I remember the excitement I felt when delivering papers to the retail stores at Christmas time.  Going into the stores, listening to the taped music piping through the sound system quickened a young boy’s Christmas spirit and brought joy and a quiet peace that blessed a paper boy delivering his newspapers along paper route number one. 

The familiar songs of Christmas bring a peace that feeds my spirit in a time that has become more harried and stressful in recent years. I enjoy listening to the familiar, beloved Christmas songs that have been a part of my life from the days of hanging tinsel on the branches of the family Christmas tree. Whether it’s Frosty the Snowman, Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire or Hark the Herald Angels Sing, the music of Christmas brings me peace – peace that gave me joy along route number one or a quiet peace that blesses my daily life today.

The candle of peace is the second candle of the Advent season and one that not only speaks to what we would hope for all human kind in all the nations of our fragile world, but it is also what we pray for our own spirits. Peace like the gentle falling snow on cold December night or the quiet, peaceful music streaming throughout a retail stores is God’s gift to us in this season – this season of waiting, hoping and anticipating. May our spirits be filled with peace in this season and may the music of Christmas be the medium in which the angels of God bring us daily blessings.

Prayer

Even in the midst of crazy holiday schedules, harried family members, tinsel, and Christmas music, may we find the peace we seek and the simple joys of everyday tasks whether it is delivering papers, preparing food for the family, or preparing our hearts for the birth of Jesus Christ. Amen. 

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