Christmas Shopping

Today I went shopping. Just briefly. I had opportunity to witness two comic scenes.

Both of these scenes involved stressed retail staff antagonising each other. Both were pretty similar. On the first occasion, a shopkeeper had lost her windex - earth shattering stuff, indeed. She panicked and started annoying another staff member to help her find it. He was taken up looking after a customer, which he rightly persisted with.

The second incident was in the car park near the shop. The stressed worker couldn't get into her office, and was hassling the car park attendant, to whom I was paying my parking fees. Again, I was grateful that he put the customer first.

I smiled as I wondered about these two workers who were already stressed by the season. Or perhaps they are people that are persistently stressed - catastrophisers, if you will. Either way, I'm not sure that's how we should be - and certainly it's not what the Christmas season should be like.

Jesus came to give life, and life in its fullness. Stress, apart from the type that heightens our capacity and efficiency, is not life giving. It is draining and causes friction in our relationships. I need to, and I hope others will, take stock over the next few weeks and ensure that we are embracing the life that is on offer to us, rather than the stress that the season could, if unchecked, bring us.