PERFECT LOVE

In preparation for this reflection, I’ve been…well… "reflecting"!

It started by thinking about my Christmases as a kid. Every one of them was perfect in every way. The tree…the smell of cookies in the oven, so many presents and so, so much fun and joy being part of a big family with 4 younger brothers and sisters. I began to wonder if my parents put as much effort (read that as "OCD") into Christmas as I do to make it perfect. I bet not. I have a feeling that juggling a family, and a household, left my mom and dad with little time to even think about making a perfect Christmas. It just was, because of who they were. They just made Christmas happen.

At the age of 9, I lost my 4-year-old sister, two days before Thanksgiving, and yet, even THAT Christmas seemed perfect to me, as a kid. Once I became a parent, I marveled at how they ever even celebrated Christmas at all that year and yet they did, and to me, it continued to be perfect. For my parents, I’m sure it was far from that.

So, here I am today, struggling with that penchant to make it perfect and magical and killing myself in the process. Volunteering to share a reflection has given me a moment to pause and say, "what the heck are you doing"? The truth is, that very first Christmas wasn’t very perfect now was it? A dirty stable, that more than likely smelled of hay and animals. The only warmth would have been the body warmth of the animals as well as the warmth of their breath. Did you ever smell an animal’s breath? NOT perfect by any means! And that pristine white swaddling cloth enveloping the Baby, in all the pictures we see? It was than likely a piece of itchy burlap rather than the soft piece of clean white cotton we often envision. Did any of that matter? Nope! And you know why? Because on that very first Christmas, what WAS perfect was the love that was born into the world. A love so perfect that it’s lasted the test of time and has enveloped those of us who believe in the security that, regardless of who we are, where we go and what we do, we are loved – loved perfectly by a God who never leaves, even in our darkest hour.

I’ve decided to put something into practice this year, during Advent, to help me remember that. I’m trying to ditch the OCD and ignore every crooked branch and every light that’s not working, as a way of reminding myself that Christmas perfection isn’t necessary. Not when you know that waits for on you Christmas Day is the birth of Perfect Love once again.

And you know what? It’s working!

Susan Mulderrig
Technology Trainer
St. Francis College