So much to do.
The shopping continues. Find a Wii. Order the turkey. Buy cards and mail them. There just aren’t enough hours in the day.
Last week, a young rabbi told me the solution. She was talking about the Sabbath, but her ideas apply equally to Christmas. The rabbi explained that the dilemma of modern life is that there never is enough time.
She said that we try to control time with our schedules: Today I’ll go to the gym and then I’ll go to work where there are meetings and then I have appointments at 9:30 and 10:15 and 10:45 and 11:15 and 2:00 and 3:15. Then, I’ll return the phone calls and check my e-mail.
Afterward, I’ll go to the store for more groceries and tonight I’ll make dinner from scratch, something healthy. I’ll spend quality time with my family tonight to nurture those relationships and then I’ll phone the other people I love and care about.
But there never is enough time. The great thing about holidays, she said, is that they do arrive. Whether or not we are ready, the holiday arrives. Like clockwork. It is then that we have a choice. We have the power to sanctify time, to make the holiday itself into a cathedral. A “cathedral in time.”
I thought about her words last weekend, as Len and I ran around. We dashed into Starbucks to fuel a busy day, when we saw our friends. On the spur of the moment, we all sat down together. It was wonderful.
Take off the wristwatch. Turn off the TV. Put away the cellphone. Let the dishes soak. No Internet. No iPod. No e-mail.
Tonight, Chex mix on the table. A rowdy game of dominoes. Let someone else keep score.
The holiday is here.
Time has stopped.
ANITA SUSAN BRENNER is a longtime La Cañada resident. Contact her at anitabrenner@yahoo.com.
