Christmas in July

Before you read this, just take a moment. Sit back, relax, and take a deep breath and just think of one word.
Noel.
Silly, you say? Try it again, seriously. Just breathe, close your eyes, forget whatever is troubling you for just a moment.
Noel.
How can you think of that word and not feel at peace?
~~~

It had been a long week, too long, and it wasn’t even over yet. Staring at a computer screen seemed to lull her entire being into a state of constant acceptance: no matter what happens, just live, just function, that’s all that matters. Get the job done. It wasn’t a bad mantra; it was a downright good thing to use one’s talents in such a way.
But does there come a time when even that is not enough? She thought glumly, fidgeting with the apple core that was the only surviving remnant of her lunch. This is almost like Groundhog Day or something. Every morning, wake up. Get in the car. Get on the Metro. Write letters. I’m not complaining, but can I still be doing this when I’m 30?
She allowed herself to be carried away a while by the soft music she played over her computer. It was some synthesized Celtic music, a cheap CD from some mass-marketed store, but if she couldn’t be on a moor of heather or surveying verdant hills in Scotland at the moment, this would have to do. Then a sound interrupted her short mental vacation, a near-pleasant ring of two notes that let her know an email had just arrived. She opened her eyes into the giant, all-encompassing eye of the computer once more.
Expecting something work related – “NASPER briefing tomorrow,” “Fix the lower margin of the following 10 letters” – she was surprised to read a single statement from a friend.
“Thursday is the day before Friday and God is watching over you.”
All self-evident truths. It was Thursday. Tomorrow was Friday. And whether her attitude reflected it or not, the Almighty Creator of the universe was watching over her. So why did the statement seem so refleshingly out of place?
Because it’s simple, she thought to herself. It’s not complex, it’s not a formula. It just is.
What did it mean for God to be watching over her? God watched over everything, but even that seemed a little distant and cold. But then a light air of the music that played over her computer’s small speakers caught her ear and heart. They reminded her of a song that was usual to think of in the middle of July, when it was over 90 degrees and over 90 percent humidity.
Noel, noel, noel, noel, born is the King of Israel!
Slightly annoyed at the idea that she’d have a Christmas song stuck in her head for the rest of the day, she shifted uncomfortably and resolved not to him the tune aloud. She paused then, thoughtfully, and wondered.
Why is it that we think of Christmas as a time of peace? Why can’t we have that the whole year, like we always say we will?
Then the words flowed from a wellspring she did not understand.

The first Noel the angels did say
Was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay,
In fields where they lay keeping their sheep
On a cold winter’s night that was so deep…

So there the shepherds were, minding their own business, tending to their job – or however many hundred there were of them. You can almost see them settling in after a long day of walking, seeking, finding, bearing loads, shearing, perhaps. They’re reclining on a hillside and trying to find a comfortable place to lay. And then, suddenly, their ordinary life is turned upside down. And why?
Because God wanted it to.

They looked up and saw a star
Shining in the east beyond them far,
And to the earth it gave great light,
And so it continued both day and night…

How many hundreds of thousands of people saw that star? Did they marvel at its brightness in the midnight sky? How phenomenal to think that they would be there, for such a time as this, to witness such an extraordinary event!
… or were they so busy with their own lives that they didn’t bother to look Heavenward, and completely missed it as a consequence?
She finally smiled. Maybe that’s what it was for God to be watching over her. She just had to look up to realize that’s what He was doing… and realize the stars would come in due time.
So in her heart, she sang.

Then let us all with one accord
Sing praises to our heavenly Lord;
That hath made heaven and earth of naught,
And with his blood mankind hath bought!

Noel, noel, noel, noel; born is the King of Israel!