Invitations...14 days 'til Christmas

"Invitations," today's 5 x 7 #watercolor card

Invitations overload the holidays for one party or luncheon or event or reunion after another. It's as though we try to cram a year's worth of social gatherings into a month.
They become a hassle of scheduling, of avoiding conflicts, of marking calendars. They're worth the smiles and memories and friendships and families, but still add to the stress and hurried-up hustle of a season that's supposed to remind us of peace.
There are other kinds of invitations that are more subtle, more spiritual, more internal.
To me, gates are invitations...not necessarily to trespass, but certainly to paint because they invite my imagination, of the paths beyond them, leading to a journey, to discovery. They shush my daily concerns and worries as they capture my attention with their invitations.
Stars have invited mankind for beyond memory, beckoning with mystery, with wonder, earning names for constellations, inspiring worship, spurring exploration and travel.
Such as the one  written about in the Gospels about a birth about 2,000 years ago--an invitation of faith, an invitation to peace in the soul.