When I was a child, the time soon after Halloween brought a
much-anticipated event. One weekday afternoon
in that stretch of time a flatbed truck would move slowly down our neighborhood
street. Some high school students would
make their trips back and forth from the vehicle to the porches of all the
homes. They were delivering the most
wondrous of publications, the Sears Christmas catalog – the “Wish Book!” The front half of the catalog had clothes and
appliances and seasonal trinkets. But,
from the index in the middle of the volume on to the back cover, there were
toys. There were toys of all sizes and
prices. Best of all, it was here that
the NEW toys received their unveiling.
Treasures we did not even know existed awaited our desiring gaze. It was a magical time.
As the years wear on, my emotions are still the same. Oh, I don’t mean about toys (although I haven’t
completely lost my appreciation for such).
I don’t even mean any of the other things that found their homes in that
now-defunct catalog. The stuff is not
nearly so intriguing as it once was. But
I am still filled with desire in this season.
It is a desire that this may be the year that as a culture and as a
Creation that we might turn the corner and pursue a different direction from
the course we are collectively pursuing.
What we are doing to the planet, how we are approaching the plight of
the poor, and even how we execute our faith has us headed down a slippery
slope. Maybe this year, maybe, we come
to our collective senses and begin to desire more fully the ways of the Prince
of Peace.
That’s my wish.
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