Less Gifts, More Presence

Don’t houses smell amazing in December? Bread is baking in the oven, cookies cooling on the counter and chocolate melting on the stove. Ellie and I patrol the kitchen, staring down at the floor and ready to GRAB any wayward cookie crumbs the instant they fall. Sometimes we gaze up expectantly, looking hungry, hoping something might "drop on purpose". Outdoor enthusiasts might compare it to fishing, except we dogs wait for things to fall from the sky instead of rise up from the water.

In December, the people carry in boxes and bags. Ingredients for upcoming baking projects are stacked on the counter, and opportunities present themselves to dogs who wait. The people leave. The garage door shuts. The bag of holiday pretzels sits tantalizing close to the edge of the counter - within reach of any dog able to marry determination with dastardly. Now, we just need Santa to turn his head for just a moment…

“Don’t even THINK about it!”

Oops! We thought you left. Gosh, Santa’s little elves are sure sneaky.

This year, however, the pandemic makes everything a little different at our house, and my mom has an explanation for the changes. Manna from heaven falls less often in the kitchen (“If I make cookies, I will just end up eating them all myself.”) Very few decorations came out of the boxes (“Nobody is coming in the house anyway, and the lights still look pretty from the street even if there’s no decorations hanging on the tree.”) And not once have they loaded us up in the car along with presents and meatballs and veggies. (“No extended family parties this year, girls.”)

“Instead,” my mom declared, “let’s not focus on gifts, but rather on presence.”

I didn’t quite understand what she meant, so yesterday my mom and I got all cozy on the couch and we discussed how a beautifully wrapped gift under the Christmas tree is not really the main gift that we should be focusing on. Instead, we should be focusing on the PRESENCE. Something less tangible but infinitely more important.

Hmm, less tangible. Presents is different from presence? I still wasn’t following so I snuggled closer, put my paw on her knee, and she explained a little more.

The first thing is being PRESENT in the moment, my mom said. In order to demonstrate, she had us just sit back and focus on our breathing. In. Out. In. Out. It is amazing when you stop to think about it - just to be able to breathe. Then we both concentrated on our hearts beating. We counted our pulses for one minute (mine was faster than my mom’s). I hadn’t really ever considered that my lungs are breathing and my heart is beating every minute, every hour, every day. And it happens without me even thinking about it. Even while I am sleeping.

We talked about how we take these things for granted, but at any moment they could stop. Against our wishes, uprooting our future plans. We might lie down to sleep and never wake up. It happens. In fact, it just happened to our neighbor last week. No warning. No preparing. She went to sleep and the beating stopped. Then the breathing stopped. Suddenly she had no more tomorrows…and it happened just like that. No discussion.

My mom and I decided that, during this holiday season, we are going to pause occasionally during the day and take just a minute to appreciate our heart beating in our chest. To be aware of each breath we take. To appreciate that this happens over and over, minute after minute…until it doesn’t happen.

Then we agreed to expand this a little wider. Go beyond the beating and breathing, and be aware of what is also present in our life right this very minute. A working car. A faucet that puts out hot and cold water. A kitchen table to eat at. Dinner in the oven. Dog treats in the closet. It is easy to take things like this for granted, just as we do the heart beating and the lungs breathing. But last January my mom visited a slum in Nairobi where, right this very minute, the residents have NONE of the things that I just mentioned. Not a single one.

Next, we decided to go a little deeper. Down past that beating heart and then on over to the muscle and tendons. To the brain. To the organs. Can you walk outside to get the mail? Can you read a book? Can you pick up a glass of water and take a drink? Can you say “I love you” to the person on the phone? Can you use the toilet and wash your hands after without any assistance? It’s easy to forget that there are people right this very moment who would give anything to be able to do one of these things. They are praying for something we already have. Something that we daily take for granted.

Then we went a little higher. To the spiritual realm, where at Christmas we receive the most amazing gift of all, the PRESENCE of the Lord, Jesus Christ, in our life today and always. FAITH begets HOPE begets JOY begets PEACE. Christmas is a time to remind ourselves not to take His presence for granted. Appreciate the gift. Open the gift. Rest in His presence.

Friends, my mom and I invite you to squish onto the couch with us the next few weeks. This has been a weird year and we are all missing gathering. We are missing family and friends. So come cozy in with us and let’s celebrate being present and being in His presence. The pandemic has put the kibosh on a lot of things, but it can’t take away the things that are ours to treasure every single day.

Join us as we focus less on gifts and more on presence this holiday season.

Merry Christmas!