At Christmas, my heart can be going in about 167,856 directions at once. Packing! Advent with the kids! Decorating! Cookies!
I’m just not all there with God.
So, I’m pulling ideas together to help me (and hopefully you too) hone in on being “all there” this Christmas—starting with our audience of One.
So often I tend to think, “If I’m trusting God, leaning not on my own understanding, praying for wisdom, and all that excellent jazz—somehow, I will be shielded from failure.” And of course, there’s some truth in there.
But in that situation, I had to admit that like the Israelites rushing into battle with the Ark of the Covenant (1 Samuel 4), I was using God as a protective layer, a guarantee.
Most of us know how intimidating Christians can be, even for us Christians. As easily as “authentic” and “real” roll off the tongue, it’s another thing to actually engage on that level.
Yet honest relationships are in the spirit of what God extends to us.
I remember that summer vividly. I was headed into high school, and had just wrapped my hormone-charged little brain around Jesus’s servanthood, His death to self.
Now I see it all over the place.
Ever conversed with a person who just really makes you feel heard and received? Who’s undistracted, and all there?
Here’s my aha moment of late: Real presence with other people actually begins with the way we’re present with God.
We’re often told to dream big for God, or that “God wants to do something big through you!” Perhaps we picture ourselves vaulting over jungles to an unreached people group, or running a homeless ministry, or a crazy amount of colleagues becoming Christians because of our influence.
But I’ve come to the realisation that sometimes, my desire to do something big for God has been, at times, just a desire not to be small.
Conflict is often full of such. . . loss. Loss of closeness, of dignity, of whatever was precious to us that someone trampled on. But would you believe me if I told you conflict is an opportunity?
I army-crawled through my own questions not long ago, amidst a cancer scare for my son. And I’d say that truthfully, more than events that alienate me from God, my thoughts are what often enslave me, threatening to tear me from the rigorous discipline of trusting what is true.
Like the seven Old Testament feasts God put in place, holidays can be a selah of sorts. So maybe you still have a day or two of holiday time left. If so, I hope these prompts (designed for “prinking” over—that’s praying and thinking) can help breathe some fresh air into your soul for the next year.