Wrap It Up
Over the past four days, I’ve been going nonstop with Christmas shopping and wrapping gifts. Just as I wrapped up the last gift sitting in my living room, my phone buzzed with a message that more deliveries had arrived.
Buying for all of GAP staff, students, and visitors (43 people this year!) is no small task. It requires wishlists, organization, budgeting, and time. The wrapping itself is a significant part of the project—and for some reason, it’s a part I’ve never enjoyed much. It takes precision, and you can’t really multitask while folding paper corners and taping.
I’ve started to think about how wrapping gifts is a lot like writing. There are many parallel lessons to be learned from wrapping gifts and placing them under the tree.
Writing takes intentionality. You can’t really multitask while doing it—if you want to write well, you need to be present and stay in the flow, or else you kind of lose it. Much like letting go of the paper before it's tapped down. At the same time, writing carries a sense of finishing. Much like placing a gift under the tree, it’s a moment that says: here it is. Here’s the thought, the process, and the conclusion—wrapped up and ready to be served to ourselves or others. Writing brings completion to our thoughts, or at least helps us process them.
Between holiday events, Zz’s birthday, the school calendar, our organization, family life, and keeping the real meaning of Christmas in perspective, my brain is often in constant go-go-go mode.
To honor the writer inside of me—and to give myself permission to wrap up my own thoughts—I’ve decided I better do some personal writing for myself this week. A wrap up of busy thoughts from the day and also a wrap up on the year as a whole.
So that’s a wrap on this email—and a short encouragement for you to take the time to finish your own thoughts on paper.
A very Merry Christmas week to you all.
Giving Hope on the Borderline,
Kelly
