|
The
other day, I realized Christmas is quickly approaching. Maybe you’re
super organized, you’ve had your holiday plans on the calendar for
months, and none of this has snuck up on you at all.
Or
maybe you’re like me and find yourself resisting the urge to get in a
tizzy and start steamrolling ahead to check everything off your to-do
list. This usually leads to tensions running high, finances getting
tight and me beating myself up over all the places I fall short.
So, I’ve decided to ask myself one simple question each day: What can I realistically do without losing my joy?
My
deepest desire is to keep Jesus at the center of this season and seek
Him above all else. Yes, the cry of my heart echoes David’s in Psalm
27:8, “My heart says of you, ‘Seek his face!’ Your face, LORD, I will seek.”
Several
years ago, I decided to put this into practice, and I gave myself
permission to let a few things slide to pursue what mattered most that
holiday season. Here’s my journal entry from the night of December 25th
that year —
I
sit in the quiet watching the lights dance and flicker around what is
left of our Christmas festivities. The presents are all opened and half
of them strewn about, evidence of happy children that were too tired to
carry their treasures to their room. They can do that tomorrow.
Usually
a mess of this magnitude would have sent me into a cleaning frenzy
complete with finger pointing and tense words, but not tonight. Tonight
I’m going to bed with a heart completely at peace. For this was the
first Christmas where my family hadn’t missed the One thing. The glory of Jesus Himself.
Oh, we missed other
things this year. We missed buying the batteries for toys though their
packages were clearly marked, “Batteries Not Included.” We missed a few
family members and friends on our not-so-organized Christmas card list.
We missed an ingredient from our homemade bread attempt that flopped,
literally. We missed the deadline to send our out-of-town presents that I
then cleverly marked as Happy New Year gifts. Yes, there were certainly
things that were lacking about our holidays this year.
But we did not miss the One thing.
For the first time in
years, I made a promise in my heart to keep Christ as the focus of our
Christmas celebration, and we actually made good on that promise. We
didn’t do it with a lot of commotion or craziness, but we celebrated
Jesus in a most glorious way. Not that an outsider would have noticed a
huge change. We still decorated the tree, baked our favorite cookies and
gave gifts.
But
… had someone happened upon our Christmas morning breakfast that year,
they would have seen something different. The kids weren’t fidgeting in
their chairs waiting to tear open the gifts calling their name from
below the tree. They were eagerly awaiting their turn to give a gift to
Jesus from their heart.
With a simple candle beside
each breakfast plate, we took turns lighting our candle as we explained
what gift we were giving from our heart to honor Jesus. My oldest son
gave a renewed commitment to tithe, while my youngest daughter gave up
her tendency to complain.
Each
of us gave a gift that you could not tie a bow around or even touch in
any way. But these gifts were precious and sincere. For just a brief
moment, the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season faded as we
invited our Jesus to sit and talk for a while. As we lit the candle next
to Jesus’ plate at the table, we each told Him, “Thank You” and “Happy
Birthday.”
Oh, sweet friend … what can you let go of this holiday season to really seek Jesus above all else?
Let this be the year you put aside the other things to glorify the One thing we all desperately need this Christmas.
Dear
Jesus, I don’t want to spend this Christmas distracted by good things,
only to miss out on the best thing — You. Slow me down. Pull me close. I
want to be a woman who chooses to delight in the gift of Your presence.
In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Isaiah 26:3, “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!”
|
No comments:
Post a Comment