Maybe Now...12 Days Before Christmas

The Twelve Days of Christmas...too many of us are not clear on just when those 12 Days take place.
The 12 Days begin on Christmas Day and run thru January 5th...with the next day, January 6th, being Epiphany...AKA Three Kings Day.
Those Twelve Days of Christmas are not the subject of this blog-post.

This blog-post is written and posted on December 13...12 Days Before Christmas 2016.

I wonder...
I wonder if maybe now...
Maybe now that we are through most
 of the tree-trimming and the decorating

and can manage a little time
 with the ones we love…

Maybe now in the midst of our scaled-back going and doing,

in what remains of our almost completed shopping and spending,

we will remember the Hope, and the Joy, 
and the Light-of-the-World, 
because…

In 12 days it will be Christmas…

But today we are very close to it.

Too often, in the midst of 
our sorrows and tragedies,
we miss the echoes of grace and peace…

Yet, maybe now...
in the embrace of our children, 
in the comfort of family and friends,

we can be tempted to be hopeful once more… 

hopeful that maybe just a little
 of our world and ourselves might be 
changed for the better, 
because…

In 12 days it will be Christmas…

But today we are very close to it.

In this oft-times difficult world
 as we allow ourselves to anticipate  
the Advent of Peace, once more…

as we remember that there is indeed
 much about which to be joyful…

Maybe now we could carry that joy with us 
for just a short while, 
because…

In 12 days it will be Christmas…

But today we are very close to it.

So I wonder if Maybe Now...