Two trains of thought, don't worry they work together in the end. Sort of.
First, this was my first Christmas away from my family. I woke up Christmas morning and skyped my family who were all together for Christmas Eve (timezones) and I just got a sinking feeling in my stomach. Why did they get to all be together and I had to be 12 timezones away? I missed them. Not just the people in my family but the whole atmosphere of being together with people who you know so well, who make fun of you, love you, encourage you, berate you, and in the end don't listen to a word you're saying. I missed talking a mile a minute in an attempt to outtalk all my siblings, I missed knowing what was going on in each of their lives, I missed the laughter that undoubtedly comes with any Hotke gathering. I missed it all.
But Christmas could hardly wait while I moped in bed! I was spending both Christmas and my birthday with some friends by the ocean. We got up and hit the mountain. After a three-hour hike, crepes with nutella and bananas, so much sweat I could hardly believe a human could produce all of it, and a whole lot of laughter we were ready to relax by the beach for a bit. All eight of us agreed we would splurge for Christmas and booked a really nice restaurant right by the seaside with the nicest ambiance I've ever seen. Palms waved gently in the breeze, Christmas lights twinkled overhead, and music played softly. Who could stay sad in a place like that?
We have a tradition in our family (not a formal one, one that just sort of happens each Christmas) where before we open presents we read the Christmas story and then kind of recap the year. Just look back and think about all that was done and how life had changed for us. It's a time to reflect, remember the goodness of God, and for mom and dad to tell us how proud they are of us. I didn't have mom and dad with me but there was no reason the rest of the tradition couldn't live on. So after we ordered our food I asked my friends if it would be okay if we read the Christmas story and then each shared how our year had been and what God had been teaching us through it. They said of course we could!
As we went around the table and each person shared it became increasingly more obvious that I was with family. We all were different ages, were from six different countries, and were all learning different things from our experiences but we all loved the same God. And that made us family. If the only thing we had in common was that we loved God then that was enough. But you know what else? We made fun of each other, talked over each other, hugged each other and most of all there was SO much laughter. It really was family. And that, is huge.
Then the night ended off with us down on the dock. The stars were blazing in the sky, the moon was a perfect crescent, and the ocean was being lit up by phosphorescent algae. We sang "Silent Night" in five different languages and ended off by praying and thanking God so much for who He was and what He had created. Was it Christmas as I knew it? Nope! But I definitely spent it with family.
Second train of thought: I am part of, what I think, is a really neat internet thing. So you sign up for "The Listserve" (and there are thousands of others signed up) and everyday they select one member. That member gets to write whatever they want and it gets sent to all the other members of the Listserve. The aim is to see, if given the chance to speak to tens of thousands of people, what will a person say? So every day I get an email from a random stranger wherever in the world. I've had emails from Germany, Brazil, the States, places in Africa, the Netherlands, and many other places.
The topics range from random advice, memories, book suggestions, recipes, short stories, one was even a short history of artificial intelligence. I love it and I find it fascinating (and sometimes totally boring) what people write. On Christmas I received an email from a man in the UK asking if we believed in God and why (if the people want to they can let anyone respond to their message). He then wrote this:
"To be fair to you, I’ll express my own view. I suspect that we will never truly know whether or not a God exists. Such a power, by its very nature, must be so far beyond our ability to comprehend as to be inaccessible. I’ve therefore come to the conclusion that the only way to live is to abide by the Golden Rule and to live our lives in a way that will leave the world a better place than when we entered it."
And I realized, this man is right. If such a Power existed (which I believe it does), by its very nature it would be beyond our ability to comprehend and would be inaccessible. And then the true beauty of Christmas hit me for the first time in a long time. Jesus came to us. God was completely inaccessible by any human means and God knew that so He sent Jesus so that we would have access to Him. This is simple stuff, this is stuff you learn when you first become a Christian but for the first time in my life I was starting to get how truly powerful God's name Immanuel (which means 'God with us') is.
God, that immeasurably immense, powerful, Creator came to our level. Because if He didn't we would be lost. And He loves us. Just let that sink in for a minute. Wow.
Love you all.
:)
First, this was my first Christmas away from my family. I woke up Christmas morning and skyped my family who were all together for Christmas Eve (timezones) and I just got a sinking feeling in my stomach. Why did they get to all be together and I had to be 12 timezones away? I missed them. Not just the people in my family but the whole atmosphere of being together with people who you know so well, who make fun of you, love you, encourage you, berate you, and in the end don't listen to a word you're saying. I missed talking a mile a minute in an attempt to outtalk all my siblings, I missed knowing what was going on in each of their lives, I missed the laughter that undoubtedly comes with any Hotke gathering. I missed it all.
But Christmas could hardly wait while I moped in bed! I was spending both Christmas and my birthday with some friends by the ocean. We got up and hit the mountain. After a three-hour hike, crepes with nutella and bananas, so much sweat I could hardly believe a human could produce all of it, and a whole lot of laughter we were ready to relax by the beach for a bit. All eight of us agreed we would splurge for Christmas and booked a really nice restaurant right by the seaside with the nicest ambiance I've ever seen. Palms waved gently in the breeze, Christmas lights twinkled overhead, and music played softly. Who could stay sad in a place like that?
We have a tradition in our family (not a formal one, one that just sort of happens each Christmas) where before we open presents we read the Christmas story and then kind of recap the year. Just look back and think about all that was done and how life had changed for us. It's a time to reflect, remember the goodness of God, and for mom and dad to tell us how proud they are of us. I didn't have mom and dad with me but there was no reason the rest of the tradition couldn't live on. So after we ordered our food I asked my friends if it would be okay if we read the Christmas story and then each shared how our year had been and what God had been teaching us through it. They said of course we could!
As we went around the table and each person shared it became increasingly more obvious that I was with family. We all were different ages, were from six different countries, and were all learning different things from our experiences but we all loved the same God. And that made us family. If the only thing we had in common was that we loved God then that was enough. But you know what else? We made fun of each other, talked over each other, hugged each other and most of all there was SO much laughter. It really was family. And that, is huge.
Then the night ended off with us down on the dock. The stars were blazing in the sky, the moon was a perfect crescent, and the ocean was being lit up by phosphorescent algae. We sang "Silent Night" in five different languages and ended off by praying and thanking God so much for who He was and what He had created. Was it Christmas as I knew it? Nope! But I definitely spent it with family.
Second train of thought: I am part of, what I think, is a really neat internet thing. So you sign up for "The Listserve" (and there are thousands of others signed up) and everyday they select one member. That member gets to write whatever they want and it gets sent to all the other members of the Listserve. The aim is to see, if given the chance to speak to tens of thousands of people, what will a person say? So every day I get an email from a random stranger wherever in the world. I've had emails from Germany, Brazil, the States, places in Africa, the Netherlands, and many other places.
The topics range from random advice, memories, book suggestions, recipes, short stories, one was even a short history of artificial intelligence. I love it and I find it fascinating (and sometimes totally boring) what people write. On Christmas I received an email from a man in the UK asking if we believed in God and why (if the people want to they can let anyone respond to their message). He then wrote this:
"To be fair to you, I’ll express my own view. I suspect that we will never truly know whether or not a God exists. Such a power, by its very nature, must be so far beyond our ability to comprehend as to be inaccessible. I’ve therefore come to the conclusion that the only way to live is to abide by the Golden Rule and to live our lives in a way that will leave the world a better place than when we entered it."
And I realized, this man is right. If such a Power existed (which I believe it does), by its very nature it would be beyond our ability to comprehend and would be inaccessible. And then the true beauty of Christmas hit me for the first time in a long time. Jesus came to us. God was completely inaccessible by any human means and God knew that so He sent Jesus so that we would have access to Him. This is simple stuff, this is stuff you learn when you first become a Christian but for the first time in my life I was starting to get how truly powerful God's name Immanuel (which means 'God with us') is.
God, that immeasurably immense, powerful, Creator came to our level. Because if He didn't we would be lost. And He loves us. Just let that sink in for a minute. Wow.
Love you all.
:)