Of this time of the year, Mister Rogers once said:
I like to compare the holiday season with the way a child listens to a favorite story. The pleasure is in the familiar way the story begins, the anticipation of familiar turns it takes, the familiar moments of suspense, and the familiar climax and ending.
Yes! This makes sense to me. I remember reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe over and over again as a child and into my adult years when I read it to my kids. I knew how the story went, but I let myself ride the wave of it as if I didn’t know. As if I didn’t know that coats would give way to trees, that Lucy’s siblings wouldn’t believe her, that Father Christmas would bring presents at just the right time, that Aslan wouldn’t stay dead.
The holidays are a strong blend of the familiar and the mysterious, the known and the unknown. We follow the well-trodden paths of our traditions – candlelight services and caroling, Luke 2 and presents under the tree, Christmas movies and gingerbread houses. We ride the wave of it all, letting ourselves be carried by the story, and delighting most in the children and grandchildren who are discovering the story for the first time. (And yes, this blend of familiar and mysterious feels different when mixed with tears. . . when the person whose voice always narrated Christmas for you is no longer there to turn the well-worn pages.)
Samara (my oldest daughter) and I reflected on all of this last week Saturday. I had just picked her up from her girlfriend’s house, and we had two beautiful hours together driving home from Millbrook, Ontario, to Kingston. The sun set to our right in the most brilliant of purples and oranges as we headed south, and then we drove east into the descending darkness of the longest night.
Samara told me all about the few days she’d just spent with Gailey. Samara’s and Gailey’s Christmas present to each other was to go see Come From Away in Toronto. Samara had seen the show before, but Gailey hadn’t. Gailey had the joy of seeing it for the first time and Samara had the joy of seeing it with someone who was seeing it for the first time.
“Doesn’t God have a similar experience of our lives?” Samara wondered. Our lives are a story that God already knows – the beginning, the turns, the suspense, the climax, the ending. The stories of our lives may not be familiar to us, but God is familiar with them. Like a child listening to a favorite story, God gets to ride the wave as we experience it in time.
“How fun for God!” Samara said. “God knew that I would meet Gailey and that I would fall in love with them. And now God gets to delight in our delight!” (And as her mom, who knows what it is like to fall in love, I also delight in her delight!)
Samara’s thoughts reminded me of G.K. Chesterton’s words as he ponders the childlikeness of God:
Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, “Do it again”; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again” to the sun; and every evening, “Do it again” to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.
We are about to turn the pages of our stories into a new year. I rest in knowing that this next year is a story God knows – and that God is ready to delight with us in the beginnings, the turns, and the moments of suspense.
God also knows the endings that will come and will be there to hold space with us in those endings, weeping with us as we weep.
But even in the weeping, I trust that God’s heart is filled with anticipatory joy. For God knows the plans God has for us. God knows how all will work together for our good. And God knows that our lives now are but the cover and the title page of the Great Story beyond all the endings (with thanks to C.S. Lewis for this image from The Last Battle)– the story that no one on earth has read, but within which, every chapter is better than the one before.
Header photo by Yaroslav Shuraev on Pexels
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10 Responses
This is textured and rich. Thank you.
Delightfully joyous. Thank you.
Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, “Do it again”; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead.
I’ve lived this quotation when playing endless games of Old Maid and Shoots and Ladders when my granddaughters were younger. It struck me that they were fierce and free, but they also had something more. They had a capacity for intimacy that I as the responsible, busy, hurried adult was losing. They wanted to be close to me and that want made every new game we played something new.
“God knows that our lives now are but the cover and the title page of the Great Story beyond all the endings (with thanks to C.S. Lewis for this image from The Last Battle)– the story that no one on earth has read, but within which, every chapter is better than the one before.”
Amen and thank you Heidi. I need to remember this.
Heidi
Thanks for this story. It is just right for this season.
And, if a person with Newfoundland hertitage may comment, I was struck by the picture you included with the brochure from the play “Come From Away.” While a secular story instself, “Come From Away” offers and important gospel message. Those forlorn flyers who set out from Europe on the fateful September day perhaps had never even heard of Newfoundland. But, when they landed there, the local people rallied, and they “welcomed the strangers” who had landed in their community. Now there is a Christmas story too.
The recent way of identifying both people and God as well as their preferred pronoun usage often confuses me. In this article, if Gailey is a “them”, wouldn’t they be a “theyfriend” instead of a “girlfriend”?
But what really concerns me, is that many authors of the Reformed journal articles, including the above author, will not use God’s pronoun of “He”. Since God identifies himself in the Bible as both “Father” and “”King”, it is appropriate to refer to God as “He”. For published authors/English majors to overuse the the word “God” in a sentence instead of using his pronoun is redundant and lacks proper sentence flow. Why can’t we respect God’s identity as He reveals Himself?
In addition, the many Bible verses I looked up about God and delight, all explain that God delights IN us, not WITH us as we experience things in our life. I will have to ponder this author’s view of the term “delight” a bit more.
Hi Lena, I’d like to politely disagree with you on many things you’ve said. Gailey uses they/them pronouns because that is what is comfortable for them. The label they have chosen as a partner to Samara is “girlfriend”, because again, that is what is comfortable for them. We never question why someone prefers Ms over Mrs even if they are married. Or if they prefer to be called a Tim instead of Timothy. Everyone has their preferences for what they are called and questioning it is useless. It is a fair question, but not an important one. Just respect it.
Secondly, the reference to God as a non-gendered being is actually appropriate. Yes, They are referred to as King and Father, but They also are described in motherly ways. It is also stated in the Bible that the Holy Spirit has no gender. The Hebrew word “pneuma” for spirit is gender neutral. As Christians we believe in the trinity, therefore 3 beings as one. I believe that deems it appropriate to use pronouns that do not relate to male nor female to appreciate the holiness of God and Their omniscient power. This way of referring to God also allows less gender power roles to be applied to Christianity. Many are learning the importance of all genders in religion, and neutralizing our Creator puts men, women, and everyone else as equals. After all, we are all created in God’s image.
Wise words Brenda. Thank you for sharing them and thanks Heidi for another wonderful blog.
Completely warms my heart. In all the ways. Thank you 🙏🏾
Good to hear that you have good things in your life. Have a blessed New Year.