My day job just became a night job. I deliver packages and with the holiday upswing in consumerism I’m out until, well until the job gets done, which lately has approached midnight. If I were more of a saint I might offer a prayer for the hundred or so families whose doorstep I grace with cardboard packages, but mostly I pray their house number is visible from the street. It Came Upon A Midnight Clear has become my favorite Christmas song because it means it’s not raining.
“Delight yourself in the Lord and He shall grant you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:4 . I’ve often mistrusted this verse as I simply couldn’t imagine the desires of my heart being anything the Lord could get behind. My perspective of God was shortchanged by my perspective of myself. I remember being punkheaded recently and rhetorically asking a friend how atheists explained ‘God given talents’ as a normal part of our lexicon. My joke lost all it’s traction when he replied Christ’s parable of how we use our talents being a more significant concern.
It was then I realized the true desires of my heart are built in my spiritual DNA, just like my big ears and prominent proboscis are part of my genetic lineage. I am occasionally aware that inspiration to write is a gift, a glimpse of heavenly prerogative. This may be more apparent in my poetry than in my commentary, but I can assure you I don’t do this alone, and for over five years I’ve been able to share my scribbling via InspireAFire. That’s a dream come true, at least for me, (you might think it’s a nightmare).
This is the season for gift giving and taking a little time to count our blessings could be a useful step, a kind of lubricant, to putting them in gear to serve others. If my delivery van isn’t maintained I’m not getting your express espresso machine to your porch and if my soul isn’t conscious of it’s design and purpose I can hardly lift your spirit in a crisis. Santa’s elves might get more airplay than the rest of us seasonal workers but in the true spirit of Christmas it is the spiritual gifts we share that will truly make this Christmas merry.
