The invitation reads: "Please no gifts: Let your presence be your present."
I was thinking this morning how the best gift we give others (and ourselves) during this season really is Christmas presence. Presence means fully in the "now"... not worried about Christmas' past and hoping it won't ""go like that again!" It means fully peaceful and at rest... not dreading what will happen tomorrow nor fearing what will go wrong in the new year. Presence means content, at rest, in the moment, fully alive and OK and perfectly me, despite my imperfections and awkward challenges.
Do I really want to miss this Christmas because I was worried about what didn't get done, what others thought of my gifts or even more, what gifts I still haven't purchased? Do my friends,families and co-workers really want an anxious, obsessed, self-absorbed me showing up? Do I want to miss life today by being busy making other plans?
By choosing presence...
The lists and stuff still to be done can be done just one thing a time.
Unwrapped gifts won't be worth an unwrapped heart.
Incomplete work at the office won't create an incomplete peace.
Unfinished dreams won't keep me from appreciating the dreams already come true.
Are you in?
