a little Fuller
When my dear Hollins sister Katie was ill, her husband Seth and our friend Jeremy put together one of the flower bouquet Lego sets for her. When Seth took it into the room for her to see saying, “What do you think?” She said, “It could be a little fuller.” So, Seth bought a second set and filled in the bouquet. While this shows a couple of things about my dear friend—that she always spoke her mind, and never stopped giving Seth a hard time—there’s also some deep truth to what she had to say….
As we approach 2025 (this boggles the mind), I wonder, could life be a little fuller? I know, I know…many of us have been trying to make our calendars less full. But the flurry of here to there and back again isn’t what I mean. It is what we fill our time with that is important. The days between Christmas and New Year’s often have me in an odd state of limbo. Hard as I try to embrace the idea of living off cheese ball and cookies, hibernating like a bear, I can only go for so long with “nothing” to do. But sitting still is important. Letting go of what doesn’t serve us is valuable. And replacing that which does not serve with that which does nourish us is vital.
I read a suggestion that when the Christmas Tree comes down (ours will remain until Epiphany or close to thank you very much) that you pack your decorations in an orderly way so that next year pulling them back out isn’t chaotic. This I am already on top of! Furthermore, you should also have a trash bag with you. Any decorations that are worn out or broken should be discarded. Well now, I have ornaments that have been on the tree since before I was born… so this might be tough. But I am determined this January to take a really hard look at what we have, because each year we get more ornaments—and we’re running out of tree branches upon which they can hang!
It's like pruning right? Jesus had something to say about that. You trim back the branches so that the plant grows back healthier. What can you set down going into 2025 and what can you pick up, that might make the bouquet of your life fuller this year?