Advent Day 16
This is a tad late but still trying to get in ahead of mylodons Day 17
I thought about the 'now' and 'not yet' and the example of how we sometimes so set our hearts on to something that we cannot take the opportunities that are offered to us of doing things differently.
It was a slightly different aspect of the Advent experience of now and not yet which I considered yesterday while doing that quintessential seasonal thing = standing in a post office queue with a bag full of parcels and 27 people in front of one all equally wanting to send things to most of the planet.The PO in question is one of these 'back of a shop' ones and so the shop owners have cunningly placed their display of attractive calendars ( King Charles Spaniels, Firefighters 2015 etc ) in full view so that you can be tempted to buy them while you are bored in the queue< ALso lots of chocolate - in this case new creme eggs and Easter bunnies...
It used to be bad enough when Easter started just after New Year - but starting one day after the third SUnday in Advent is something else !
It seems we must anticipate everything now- we cannot wait for the event itself or even the introduction to the event but we need to both here and in some forward straining future at one and the same time. Yet if we live in the present, which actually is all that humans can really do in the fullest sense of the word 'live'' we are going to benefit more from the world around us and the relationships we have than either being bound by the past and wishing time away in some might- never-happen future.
As for the queue? I bought a calendar (and neither spaniels nor firefighters)
I thought about the 'now' and 'not yet' and the example of how we sometimes so set our hearts on to something that we cannot take the opportunities that are offered to us of doing things differently.
It was a slightly different aspect of the Advent experience of now and not yet which I considered yesterday while doing that quintessential seasonal thing = standing in a post office queue with a bag full of parcels and 27 people in front of one all equally wanting to send things to most of the planet.The PO in question is one of these 'back of a shop' ones and so the shop owners have cunningly placed their display of attractive calendars ( King Charles Spaniels, Firefighters 2015 etc ) in full view so that you can be tempted to buy them while you are bored in the queue< ALso lots of chocolate - in this case new creme eggs and Easter bunnies...
It used to be bad enough when Easter started just after New Year - but starting one day after the third SUnday in Advent is something else !
It seems we must anticipate everything now- we cannot wait for the event itself or even the introduction to the event but we need to both here and in some forward straining future at one and the same time. Yet if we live in the present, which actually is all that humans can really do in the fullest sense of the word 'live'' we are going to benefit more from the world around us and the relationships we have than either being bound by the past and wishing time away in some might- never-happen future.
As for the queue? I bought a calendar (and neither spaniels nor firefighters)