For whom the bells jingle
THE LAST MONTH. THE culminating chapter that will seal another year of bliss and madness. The adrenalin rush is contagious. It's the time when we're allowed to be nostalgic and cheesy. Parties with different themes have kicked off and will reach crescendo with the one we eventually celebrate with family.
The 'Top 10' of everything will soon spice up the news. Most significant triumphs and loses, which events trended the most, who figured prominently in business, sports, politics, entertainment and what in retrospect, were the most controversial scandals. Conclusion: there's really something in the air as we enter the final stretch of year that causes us to assess and reflect the time that has passed, before we call them 'misty water colored memories.' But we can't put a finger exactly on what it is that possesses us. Something profound at the same time trivial, something ambivalent and yet, melancholy - and yes, something that reminds us that we're getting older but ironically makes us act like children again.
Why do we prolong this season, especially this side of the world? Is it because we are a sentimental lot? Or is it because we prize relationships above everything else? Do we subconsciously park these tendencies and natural inclinations until we're about to hit home run? From January to November, we get engulfed by the imperative to deliver at work. The momentum can't be interrupted. All you do has to translate to productivity results. No one dares get lax. There are consequences for not meeting one's targets.
The holidays in between are short lived - Valentines in a day's duration, Holy week in a week's duration and the rest we're not as feverish about. But come December, we're caught in a flurry of preoccupations. It's actually a very lucrative time for most business enterprises and the need to produce results can even be more pronounced, but something just competes with our focus. What we can escape for eleven straight months confront us on the twelfth: when you hear the carols and see the play of flickering lights, you come face to face with a glimpse of what truly matters, and perhaps, a foretaste of the life we should be living, as inspired by the Celebrant.
December settles the score. We work for the glory of God. By divine design, the work we're privileged to have here and now is a means to stay connected to the Vine. It's so easy to get distracted from this central truth as we go through the grind and toil our way month after month. But when the lanterns start to light up the neighborhood, real priorities get clearer. And as the bells start to jingle, they do so not for Santa, the snowman or Rudolf. They do so, for you and me that we may merrily worship the coming of a Child who is the reason for the season.
Thanksgiving Day is a tradition in the western world. But in ours, a single day wouldn't do. When we jingle the bells for the season, we do jingle them all the way.