"UN"

I've been thinking about this bit I wrote in July of 1997.  I was 30 then, more certain of myself and my decisions than I am now (which could be frightening to those who know me in my present form).  Still, I knew I had my limits, and I was trying to work through those and find some sort of peace in the midst of it all.  I came to a fairly neat conclusion back then, but God's been bringing it to mind in these last three weeks or so -- the weeks leading to Christmas -- pulling things together and teaching me new things (Yes, fifteen years; okay, so I'm a slow learner!).  It's a bit of a winding road, but I'd like to see if you see what I see...


     I am sitting on my unmade bed, staring at the piles of clean laundry on my bedroom floor, on my chair, (which is why I am sitting on my bed), on the table, and on the laundry basket, (full of paperwork, not laundry) and I stifle a sigh.
    I glance at the laundry basket which is full of unpaid bills, unfiled papers and unread magazines.  In my mind's eyes, I roam through the house and take note of the unwashed dishes, unmopped floors, untidy bathroom and unvacuumed carpets.  Did I mention the kids' playroom is an unbelievable mess?  I think "un" is my personal prefix.
     It wasn't always this way.  My roommates in college got very tired of my tirades against their unwashed dishes, their sloppy bathroom, their inability to load the dishwasher properly (sad to say, true story).  My husband never even considered he might be marrying a girl who was unable to conquer the dirty clothes pile.  So, even after I was first married, I worked hard to maintain a clean, attractive atmosphere.  Then, slowly, I began to lose the battle.  What vanquished me?  One word: children.
     ...So here I am, on my unmade bed, surrounded by piles of clean laundry (at least it is clean).  And what a relief it is to remember that my girls and I sang together today.  We read stories.  We held hands.  We talked of how much God loves us and how he takes such good care of us.  We did a few practical things together too -- just to remember that they are a part of life as well.  Later, we'll go to school for a special program, and the dishes will probably still be unwashed and the furniture undusted.  But we'll be just fine.  As Chuck Swindoll says, ""Not many really creative people -- in the process of creating -- keep everything meat, picked up and in its place" (Stress Fractures, p. 161).  And I'm not trying to create an interior decorator's showplace, but a home, filled with happy, healthy children.  When they are grown up and have left home, then the laundry and I are gonna have it out.


I still do not like unfinished anything.  I hate clutter, loose ends and unresolved issues.  I live here however, in the unfinishedness.  It makes me feel...discombobulated.


What's this got to do with Christmas?


"All these people were still living by faith when they died.  They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance...These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised."  Hebrews 11:13, 39


Not your typical Christmas passage, I know, but these are the reminders of people for whom the Messiah was unknown.  They lived in the "un" part of "unfulfilled" when it came to the Promise.  Abel, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Rahab...  These people -- real people who laughed and got hungry and lost their tempers and grew weary -- they lived in the unfinishedness of waiting.  They watched, they worked and they waited, always looking ahead, trusting God for his Word.


Here's the thing, Christmas takes the "un" off of unfulfilled for each one of them.    In a world where God was unapproachable and unaccessible, Jesus comes in the form of a precious baby and becomes the most tangible form of a promise kept, ever.  Then He completely closes the book on it and wipes the "un" off of "unfinished" at Calvary.  Bam.  Promise kept.


And yet...


There is still a sense of something being unfinished...because it is.


"They were longing for a better country - a heavenly one.  Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God for he has prepared a city for them... Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably, with reverence and awe..."  Hebrews 11: 16, 12:28


Christmas eliminates the "un" from unfulfilled, Easter obliterates the "un" from unfinished, and Heaven abolishes the prefix "un".


This Christmas, I'm going to remember how Bethlehem and Calvary finished the Promise, and I'm going to look for heaven and the moment when there is nothing left undone.


Whether or not my laundry ever gets folded and put away is something else entirely.