Some days it has been really hard to get moving and face the day. EVERYTHING around me reminds me of Roger.
I know that I'm not alone in this and because of this, I know that even though Christmas will be different this year, so much of it will be the same. But, on a daily basis, wow....step by step. A journey.
Last year, Christmas season 2013, we had a ball at the Disney Parks. We tried to hit all of the hotels and count all of the hidden Mickeys. Roger, never the fan of photos, humored us more than he ever had. He even relaxed and smiled for the little birdie very often! ("Don't bite your lip, RoRo")
He always got so still and serious when the camera pointed toward him - it is like he was camera-trained a half century ago! Or like in those historical sepia prints.
Roger loved Christmas time more than anyone I think I have ever known. Of course, on his end, he kept things simple - practical gift cards, one box to open, each. Polar opposite of yours truly, who grew up with tons of boxes and bows - not necessarily expensive stuff, but oh, so much fun to unwrap! A little is never enough when it comes to sparkles and embellishment - visual image, you know!
Daddy (my daddy) loved the room full of gifts. I guess when you grow up in a family of 13 children, even with one gift each, you have a lot of boxes. With four children of his own, he liked to keep up that visual image, I guess. He always taught us that the gifts were like blessings or gifts from God. You don't know what is in it until you accept it and actively participate by opening it. Some gifts are a surprise, some are practical, but you are not really deserving of any of them. You don't get them because you are good, you get them because you are loved. I realize how much I have experienced that lesson, day by day, this past year. Actively participate, would be the key word here.
I'm not sure I ever looked at it from that perspective before, but the lesson stuck. I kind of followed that tradition. I like boxes and mostly, I like embellishment. I love that expectation of what could be inside - just a surprise, or something practical? I love that each gift is prepared and presented with love, above all.
Roger was a far more minimalist person that I can ever hope to be. He liked for people to be happy and as adults, liked for them to make decisions about what made them happy. His approach was that you gift because you love, but that one was enough. Why, because it reminds us that only one gift is the important one that we can receive, only we have to choose to accept it. His one wrapped gift was symbolic of the gift that God gave to each of us and the reason we celebrate Christmas in the first place.
He also believed that no one was responsible for your happiness except you - it is your choice, your decision to be happy - or not. Thus the gift card, I suppose. I never really connected those dots, until now.
Actually, Roger could go into great detail about the history of Christmas, the pagan traditions, the celebrations from around the world, yet would always remind us that it is a marker on the timeline of history that we call Christmas-and it is there for a reason. It could be called anything, but it is called Christmas because CHRIST is central to all of it. It is a marker in history when the world was changed. A child was sent to earth from Heaven - to grow up and live as man. He arrived on the earthly scene to show us how to live now, so that we could better appreciate how we can live for eternity. It is one of only two truly important markers on that historical time line.
He lived it - preached it with his life, but did not bombard people, nor make them feel bad if they did not agree with him or have differing beliefs. He really believed that only God could convict any man, woman or child of their need for Him and the salvation He offered.
So often, when crazy things happened in the news, or even in life - he would so simply point out that people become so 'anti-Christmas' (as in Happy Holidays, removing Nativity scenes, etc) - because they are under conviction and don't want to deal with it. People do that all the time, he would share, because they are essentially running from God because the ways of man seem to be more important than the ways of God. And it always made him sad.
I really loved listening to Roger put so much of history into perspective. If he had not chosen the fire service as a career, he would have made an outstanding professor of history! I had benefit of enjoying both!
And so....those gifts. He loved getting his grandchildren just what they wanted. Legos were the go-to item for Jacob for as long as I can remember. These days he is quite the robotic guy. Roger would have loved watching him create those mechanical wonders this year.
Last Christmas Emily told him that she wanted a light blue dress. When he told me, as we were headed out shopping, I recall saying 'WHAT? Where in the world are we going to find a light blue dress AT CHRISTMAS TIME?"
Oh, but he would have gone to the ends of the earth to find it. And find it, we did! When he saw that dress from across the store, he said "THAT'S IT!" He took off quickly to get her size - and I am SO THANKFUL that I talked him into getting one that 'fit now' as opposed to one she had to grow into! He had this thing for frilly dresses for little girls.
He bought them for Kristin and Karin, and now Emily. Always his pick!
And yet, God, who orders my steps, allowed me to stumble across this digital image at the time I needed it most.
It reminds me that Roger is still here, even if only in our memories. Yet, he is as real and as present as I can even imagine. Maybe that is symbolic of the way that Christ may not be here in person, but I feel his presence daily.
Seeing this little girl and recalling that fully embellished gift that she so enjoyed opening - and the thrill of finding just what she wanted, more beautiful than she imagined - will always remind me that he was still teaching about the joy he had in watching her joy. And that is how God feels when we accept his Gift of Christ. Ecstatic, I would imagine!
Roger's Lesson: Have fun at Christmas and enjoy the sights and the lights, and all of your 'embellishments" - and don't stop doing that. Mostly though, remember family and friends and those you love and who need love. And always remember that Christmas never was about the STUFF - it is about the love that God showed to each of us so long ago, and still today, when He gave HIS SON to us, on earth - to show us the way to live - for now and for eternity. Christmas is about CHRIST - no matter how anyone tries to tell you differently. And Jesus, the CHRIST, came on the scene for you.
Yes, indeed. So we will not allow this special time of year pass us by, even without Roger's presence. We will remember that he was one of God's most special gifts to us, and be thankful for the days that we had him.
And we won't take shortcuts, using an X and leaving Christ out of it all. Christ - central to the celebration.
And I am sure that we will be thinking of one amazing celebration taking place in Heaven this year!
No comments:
Post a Comment