Pine needles

One of the frustrating things about the Christmas season, or rather the post-Christmas season, is dealing with the pine needles that fall from the Christmas tree; a problem that doesn't disappear even when the tree you own is artificial.  Pine needles are an awkward remnant of that happy season, dark green debris from an otherwise sparkling sculpture that symbolizes the arrival of Christmas and its departure; a reminder of another moment passed; and, there is a certain melancholy attached to their arrangement on carpet or laminate floor when the festivities are ended and decorations gone.  

The fact of dealing with pine needles - real or fake - is not helped by their stubbornness.  I have a particularly ineffective vacuum cleaner that inhales rather weakly at the best of times.  [With a not too dissimilar demeanour to the robot from Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy,] it's almost as if it takes one look at the carpet and thinks 'why bother'.  For this is the place where young children and animals roam, and countless amounts of dirt is walked in from the kitchen and hall-way.  

No, it takes a fair amount of time and determination to deal with this mess, and how so for other areas of life.  Sometimes it seems inevitable: the wear and tear, and aging, and deterioration, and depreciation.  

This prevalent desperation and damage need not be the final answer however for those for whom Christmas is vitally important.  It is part beginning part culmination of a glorious promise, a holy moment when the divine draws imminently near, when God in fullness reveals God in creation and applies God for our cleansing and salvation.  Dreams like flowers fade, grass withers, and creation wears out like a garment, but nothing is impossible with God.  Praise God for Jesus Christ!