Counting today, only five days are left until Christmas - only five days!
Only five days to -
-Clean the house
-Wrap the gifts
- Buy more gifts on sale - if we have the money
- Bake the cookies
- Do last minute decorating
- Bake more cookies.....
-Put in another load of wash
- Run to the grocery store
- Run to the store again....
Only five days, and an anxiety attack twists our stomachs. How will there be enough time, when already we're beyond exhaustion?
Counting today, only five days are left until Christmas.
That really means that there are only five days left until the Coming of Jesus.
Think of Mary, five days before the birth of her Son. She knew that she and Joseph had to travel a long distance to Bethlehem to be enrolled, because Joseph was of the house of David and Bethlehem was his family's home city. Perhaps they were already on the road. We fret about cleaning our houses, but Mary and Joseph were on the road, not knowing if they would have a roof over their heads when their child would be born.
What calmed Mary during this uncertain time? Probably placing her hands on her belly and feeling the kicks of her Son. Sensing His heartbeat within her. Knowing that not only her beloved Baby was In her, but that, because her Son was also the Son of God, that in some spiritual way she was also In Him, carried and protected. Feeling the Presence of her Son carried her from her place in an uncertain time into the Timeless.
Take time these days to Stop and Rest in Jesus, Who is coming, but Who is already here, resting in you as surely as He rested in His mother during her journey to Bethlehem. Jesus resting within you will show you your priorities, keep you calm, assure you that what needs to be done will be done. And He WILL come, and His Coming is what Christmas is all about.
Ask for the gift of Wisdom these days - Wisdom to know what is REALLY important right Now. Wisdom will tell you: Christmas is not about having a perfectly clean and neat house, or about having the perfect presents, or baking the perfect cookies. Christmas is about having a simple, loving, open space in our hearts where Jesus can be born and lay His head. All of us can accomplish that for Christmas!