Christmas is almost here and it’s causing my heart to palpitate. I’m not even close to being ready! How did it get to be December 10 already?
Our tree is still in its box, huddled in the corner of the basement with all the decorations. It’s going to stay there a few more days because there’s work, basketball games and Christmas music concerts.
Did I want to write a few cards for friends in far flung places? Maybe.
Baking? Haha – don’t make me laugh. My arm has to be twisted at the best of times to pull out the mixing bowls and cookie sheets. With little time left and lots to do? Not happening.
I did get the advent calendars filled with chocolate in time for December 1- so there’s that.
Life has been busy, as it always is this time of year. Launching a book added a bit more to my To Do list but it was fun stuff. Okay the weather hassle wasn’t fun (we had to cancel it due to freezing rain and rescheduled it the following week) but everything else was exciting.
Watching something you created come to life is a thrill. It’s also scary and vulnerable. People will love it, like it or hate it. Or have no opinion at all. It’s just the way it is. Free choice. I can’t make you read it or like it. I can only put it out there.
Exit Stage Right is a loose retelling of the prodigal. The father in the parable Jesus told, loved his son but he couldn’t make his son love him back. He couldn’t force his son to stay home. He could only put his love out there. It’s a story every parent can identify with.
It’s also the story we live out every day. The more I learn about the parable of the prodigal the more I see how it intertwines with the Christmas story. God, the father, sent his son, Jesus, as a gift. He gave him to us but he doesn’t force us to love him or follow him. It’s our choice, just like the prodigal had the choice to stay with his father or leave. Free will. We may love Jesus, we may not, but either way God waits for us to decide.
The one thing I don’t want to do is have no opinion at all. It’s easy to cruise through the holidays and really not engage Jesus. Too much to do, too many distractions. Jesus gets shoved to the end of the line, multiple times a day. I’ve already done it this season. By the end of Christmas, I’m left with the feeling that something slipped through my fingers. I think to myself, “There’s got to be more.” As a follower of Jesus, I know the answer to that question but I’m still left feeling like I missed something.
My only answer is this – stop and make room for Jesus. The inn was too full but that didn’t stop Jesus from coming to earth. He came to a lowly stable amidst the lowing and snuffling of animals that were housed there. The shepherd that came to the stable that night, made room in their busy lives – they left their flocks (their work) to find him and spend time with him. Are we willing to leave our work, whatever that may be, to search him out and spend time with him?
Stop. Be still. In doing so, I make room for Jesus in my hectic life. A space where I invite him in. Where I can listen and talk. Where my soul is filled up. Maybe it’s in that quiet space that Christmas comes alive because I have to time to unwrap and get to know the greatest gift of all.
You can read the Christmas story in Luke 2 and the Parable of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15:11-31.