by erika haveman
Anyone who knows me knows that I am a huge fan of WestJet. I try to exclusively fly with them whenever possible, and I brag about them to anybody who will listen (even when they don’t want to listen, I still make them). They are pretty well known for their marketing around Christmas time, and they’ve done it again this year as they created an ad that made it possible for several people to be with the ones they love during the festive season. Their slogan this year (or maybe it’s been every year, but I noticed it this year) is “Uniting Through Traditions” – which gets me right in the feels as I’m such a huge fan of traditions. In fact the same day their new marketing campaign hit my email inbox I was realizing that I likely won’t be home this year to get a tree and decorate it with my family. There’s a good chance I’m missing carolling on hay wagons with my church. I already missed my work Christmas party – which, to be fair, isn’t quite a personal tradition as I’ve missed it all 3 years I’ve been with the organization. But still! It’s someone’s tradition that I’ve been invited into and that’s just my favourite thing! Currently I’m in Okinawa, Japan where the sun is shining and the waves of the perfectly blue ocean are crashing onto the sand, and while I’m with one very dear and precious friend it certainly doesn’t feel like Christmas is 22 days away.
In the WestJet ad we are introduced to parents who haven’t seen their daughter in long time (they live in Canada, she lives in Seoul), a girl who met her boyfriend in Vegas, on the day of the shooting, and they’ve been doing long distance, and to another young couple whose dear friends moved away from Grand Prairie shortly after they had made the Alberta city their home. In the ad you watch as the long lost family, lovers and friends are reunited thanks to WestJet providing them with a Christmas miracle. It’s all kinds of nice and really makes you long for time with the ones you cherish the most.
It’s all a nice idea, but I know others, like me right now, will watch this and be reminded of the fact it won’t feel like Christmas for them because they will continue to be far apart from loved ones. This isn’t always physical distance either; sometimes it’s a rift that has existed for years that keeps families apart or there’s so much going on between friends you live in the same town but you won’t see each other. The point is – what does it mean for it to “feel” like Christmas? Is it really family? Is it snow? Is it Christmas lights and hay wagon rides and carolling?
Obviously you can guess where I’m going with this because as followers of Jesus we know in our heads that it is all about Him. But how do we really wrap ourselves up in this idea? Do I know how to transfer this head knowledge to my heart?
I’m not sure I can force any sort of switch. I’m not sure I am the one who can transfer any knowledge to my heart. That literally doesn’t work for anything else in life, so why would it work now?
I think we need to choose to be okay with it not feeling like Christmas. I think the way we ease ourselves into the season, when we really don’t feel like it, is to just allow it to happen. It’s going to happen anyways, so stop fighting it. Try to embrace the traditions around you and ultimately get your eyes off of yourself.
I think with where I’m at right now in my life all I want to do is look at me. I know the last bit of blogs I’d been posting all about getting eyes off of self – but somehow in writing about that I’ve simultaneously also managed to look at myself a lot more. And the reality is nobody should be looking at me this holiday season and suggest that I’m the one who makes it feel like Christmas. If nobody should be doing this for me then nobody should be doing this for anybody because that really does take the attention off the One who Christmas really should be all about: Jesus.
So try something different this season and maybe try reading through the prophetic books (pretty much the Old Testament from Isaiah onwards) to see where you can read about the coming Saviour. He is who we are anticipating this Christmas season (albeit not physically, though his physical re-entry into the world should be something we look forward to) and do we really know who He is? Do we really know how to anticipate His life? Do we set aside the shopping and the wrapping and the decorating and the baking to really focus on the advent of the Messiah? He should be our all encompassing focus, so much so that everything else really does fall away.
Maybe we still won’t “feel” like it’s Christmas, but we’ll have our eyes on the right One and He’ll bring us the peace, joy and comfort we need to see us through the season.
the rambling missionary 