Thank you, God, for the Last Minute

Back in early December, I was out shopping—my arms full of merchandise—when I bumped into a friend.

“Just grabbing a few last-minute gifts?” she said.

“Oh, this isn’t the last minute,” I said, laughing. “We still have plenty of time.”

And we did. But that was then, and this is now. We have officially entered The Last Minute.

If you’re ready for Christmas, fantastic. That means you won’t need that parking space and I won’t be waiting behind you in line at the store.

This blog is for the rest of us: Still shopping? Not sure what you’re making for Christmas dinner—or who’s hosting? Still looking for the extension cord to plug in the lights?

I have good news for you, last-minute friends. This is our time to shine.

There is nothing like a deadline for helping you buckle down and focus on the task at hand. You know why we couldn’t get our shopping done sooner? Because we had too much time. There was no urgency. But now! Now we’re on deadline. Now we can make some decisions. Everything will get done. Or at least, the important stuff will get done.

That’s the best thing about the last minute. It forces you to focus on what matters. You won’t be delivering homemade baked goods to all the neighbors, and you won’t be crocheting teacher gifts. You might not bake 10 kinds of cookies with your children. You might not bake any.

But you’ll make other memories along the way. And you’ll be surprised that sometimes the last minute inspires a simple solution that is better. The other day I handed our postal worker a fresh orange—no card and no wrapping—and he was absolutely delighted. He went happily on his way carrying a taste of Florida in his hand.

Now, if you aren’t a last-minute person, you might wonder why I am scrambling. Well, I’ve been busy with a thousand things. But I’ve fit in plenty when I could have been getting my cards out in a timely fashion or finding gifts for the people on my list.

Last week I went to see the movie theater rerelease of the 1995 version of Sense and Sensibility—you know, the one featuring Hugh Grant and Emma Thompson. I even made a trip to an exhibit at the Baltimore Museum of Art. I had a wonderful time—and I actually found some delightful bird finger puppets in the BMA gift shop that will make their way into a few family members’ hands.

So, I’ve made my choices. Now I might need to sprint a bit to reach the finish line. No regrets.

It will be OK. Christmas will come, and we’ll be ready—or ready enough. We might just need to realign our expectations and enjoy the ride. After all, Christmas isn’t really about the last-minute frenzy of lists and wrapping paper and gift tags.

It’s about love. It’s about God sending his son to earth. It’s about Jesus coming to us in an entirely new way.

So maybe, as we light the fourth candle on the Advent wreath, we can take a moment to remember that we are loved. As we’re wrapping gifts on Christmas Eve (or early Christmas morning), maybe we can see that time as a prayer for those we love. When we’re stuck in line at the store, maybe we can find a smile or a kind word for the tired employees and our fellow shoppers, knowing that Jesus was born into this world for each of them, too.

And, as the minutes zoom past, and we get caught up in the frenzy of the last minute, perhaps we can find peace in knowing that this is just a moment in time.

“There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens,” we read in Ecclesiastes.

So, it might not have been the time before, but now it is time. Let’s go!

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