Everywhere are conversations among people this week, “Are you ready for Christmas? I have so much to do. Not enough time to do it.”
We hurry from work to shopping to wrapping to parties to work. It’s all a big blur.
We don’t have time to “feel the Christmas spirit” because we don’t have time to notice.
Gene Appel, senior pastor of the Eastside Christian Church in Orange County, California, drew a lesson from one of Jesus’ stories to (and about) his local Pharisees in a message a few weeks ago.
It seems that a man had two sons. One tapped into the old man for a chunk of money and took off for the good life. One day after the money was gone, the friends were gone, the women were gone and he woke up in a pigpen, he “came to his senses.” He became what is one of the hardest things for us to do—to become self-aware.
When did he become self-aware? When he stopped. There was no more hurry. No more drinking, no more women, no more friends, no more hurrying from one party to the next. He stopped. And then he came to his senses.
Perhaps it is time we stop. Just pause and take a deep breath. Inhale until the lungs fill; then keep going until the stomach is “filled”; then keep going until the abdomen grows. Then slowly release the breath. Two or three of those should slow us down until we can become aware of our circumstances, our emotions, our environment.
Stop. Look around. Place your thoughts on Jesus. Rejoice in the celebration.
Gary Mintchell
Faith Venture 