THE PRICELESS CHRISTMAS BOX

 

Roi Tan Cigar Box, Emporia, KS

There’s a lot of wonderful children’s books to read to our kids during the holidays like the classic Christmas story of Jesus’ birth and childhood movies to watch like Toy Story 3.  The classic book about the Littlest Angel got my attention years ago and on the surface it’s a nice story about simple childhood treasures, love and sharing.  I do object to the notion that children die because God needs another little angel in heaven and I don’t believe we’re converted into angels, although many saints reside there. 

When the Son of God was born in Bethlehem and heavenly hosts were bringing elaborate gifts, God chooses the little boy’s earthly box because it contained his wonderful collection of a butterfly with golden wings, a sky-blue egg, two white stones and a leather collar that had belonged to his dog that had lived in absolute love and infinite devotion.  And His son was born to be king of both men and earth.

The Christmas box and the assortment of toys that the older boy was leaving behind in Toy Story 3 as he left for college reminded me of my grandfather’s cigar box that is still in my possession which contains the remnants of my own boyhood.  The sandbox my father made for me one Christmas was the scene of endless adventures for the cowboys, Indians, knights in shining armor and soldiers that I spent endless hours entertaining.  The skate key, birthday card signed “Mom and Grandpa”, arrowhead, model airplane alligator clips, game die, cat’s eye marbles, sand dollar and sea shells evoked precious memories.  The worn 1951 dog tag was given to me when my dad announced that our loyal family dog Patches had succumbed to being hit by a passing automobile.  That was my first encounter with death and losing a loved one—and the beginning of lost innocence.

I’d like to think that the contents of my priceless cigar box would be a good example of every earth boy’s Christmas toy story and a gift fit for a king who would be their savior!

DECLUTTER AND SPARK JOY IN THE NEW YEAR

Minimalism, Jamestown, NC

As we turn our planners over to another new year, I’ve always noticed an underlying sense of mild anxiety whenever I have been so busy and focused on a project deadline that clutter has invasively entered into my life.  That goes for both the mental and environmental elements that shape daily life.  And many of us always seem to find that rectifying this situation is a very responsible and priority item on our New Year’s resolutions list.  Then life happens all over again as we blast off on yet another trip around the sun!

As I was preparing the house for holiday guests, I found all manner of clutter that had accumulated around my life in the form of an excess of magazines, books, unnoticed canned goods past their expiration dates, household accessories that had reproduced in the dark hours of the night, clothing articles hanging innocently inside a walk in space which had not been selected in over a year ( and some that had their seams taken in overnight by woodland elves named calories), dust bunnies that were producing offspring faster than their mortal namesakes, bedding and bath textiles that had been replaced by fresher linens but retained on unvisited shelves, unfiled paperwork in my office that rose to new heights of unorganized stacks, etc.  There’s no need to even mention the storage room and the garage space, although I had methodically carted off numerous items to charitable groups all year.  But apparently its been observed that drinking and priming has deleterious consequences that manifest themselves on your doorstep in the form of those ubiquitous Amazon boxes that occasionally attract those pesky porch pirates.

Unbeknownst to me, all of this clutter had crept into my life generating this undercurrent of unconscious uneasiness.  Fortunately, clutter is one of the easiest life stressors to fix!  The attributes of Minimalism focus on simplicity, clarity, and singleness that motivates us to intentionally retain those things that bring joy to our being and enables us to release all the other things that do not.  It clarifies our vision to see the deceit of our consumer culture and opens up the possibility of redirecting our attention to nurturing relationships and our very own souls.  Jesus taught that we should not store up treasures on earth but in heaven, for where our treasures reside, there our heart will be also.  This eternal truth also applies to how we spend our time.

The Japanese traditional culture of Zen philosophy centers on simplicity.  Their principle of Ma refers to empty or open space and reduces everything down to just the essentials.  Marie Kondo has made an international name for herself with her method of decluttering and organizing which she has dubbed “KonMari”.  She promotes only keeping those things that “spark joy” in our lives.  And joy trumps life stressors every single time!