beWARM

There comes a moment in every holiday season where I have to remind myself to breathe.

This simple act serves to squelch impending panic as my good intentions and to-do lists threaten to become a highway pile-up.

 “Sure, I can do all that” rapidly becomes “What was I thinking?”

And how will I ever get it done before Christmas?

Pre-holiday pep talks –  you know, the ones where you tell yourself that this is the year when you won’t do whatever it was that stressed you out last year, are but a distant memory.

Fervent requests for God’s peace and a clear mind bring the realization that  holiday frenzy is not His idea of preparing for the birth of His Son.

How can we receive all of God’s gifts with hands too full of busyness and minds cluttered with inconsequential details?

And what we can do to make our holiday have-tos become grace-filled glad-tos?

In this Advent season as we await our Savior’s arrival, I thank God for these awarenesses.  While they won’t lessen what needs to be done, they can change our outlook.

If we plug into God as our energy source, His mainframe provides a strong and steady illumination, revealing all that is good and true.

The frantic race to the Christmas finish can become a walk of grateful joy.

Jesus, who came to save the world, arrived in the humblest way. An unheated manger and a bed of hay provided rest for this holy family, whose only preparation for His birth involved the readying of their hearts.

If we link ourselves to the cord that reaches to God, His peace will guide us through the days as Christmas approaches.

And our hearts will be ready for Jesus to enter in…

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. ~ John 14:27

The giving of gifts is not something man invented.  God started the giving spree when he gave a gift beyond words, the unspeakable gift of His Son. ~Robert Flatt