I want to offer you a gift, the gift of a slower pace. Especially at Christmas, it’s incredibly easy
to get side-tracked. We get in such haste
to accomplish everything on a “to do” list a mile long that we lose sight of
Christmas and maybe some unexpected blessings because we let ourselves get too
busy to notice. We are so busy that we
can’t or won’t adjust our schedule to accommodate what might be a blessing.
Thinking back to that very first Christmas, the shepherds,
the lowly shepherds, were given the privilege of seeing this miracle. Just for a second, imagine how different it
would have been if the shepherds in the fields had decided they were too busy
to go to Bethlehem to see this “baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and laying in
a manger.” Instead of playing the “busy”
card they left the sheep –which incidentally was their livelihood- and “went to
see this thing that the angels had told them.”
They were among the first to look upon the face of God. What a Blessing! They would have missed a blessing if they had
not allowed for interruptions to their schedule. The baby would have been born,
but they would not have seen it.
This Christmas, let's throw out the "to do" list,
especially if it means being too busy to stop and help someone else, spend time
with the family. Let’s allow our
schedule to be interrupted in order that we might gain a blessing, even if it’s
only the blessing of giving joy to others.
Let’s not lose sight of the eternal among the trappings of
Christmas. Christmas was God becoming
man. It was not about a Christmas tree, or cookies, gifts or any of the things
that we often get in such a hurry over at Christmas. These other things are all good, in
perspective, but the real blessing is Jesus.
This Christmas, slow your pace. Life
will continue if you don’t get that last gift, or send a billion cards, or make
oodles of cookies. One thing for sure, if we slow down we may find ourselves enjoying Christmas a little more.
