This is it! The last weekend before Christmas. The final push! The countdown to Christmas Eve. Is all your wrapping done?
Three Days till Christmas … !
All my shopping is done, even for stockings, but I still have a lot of wrapping to do. Today. After I play for a children’s Christmas program practice and prep worship team music for tomorrow morning. Sunday will be full and fun with church, an open house and a birthday party. I’m sure everyone has a busy weekend of Christmas plans and activities.
So now is the time to remind ourselves, as we have said in previous posts, we are body, soul and spirit. Because above all else, after all the preparations, it’s time to remember why we are doing all this and the One whose birthday we are celebrating.
Shh…Silent Night
This weekend, hopefully you’ll plan to take in a Christmas worship service or maybe you’re going to church on Christmas Eve, or both, like me. When we are in that service, we must be fully engaged in the moment. Don’t think about anything left to do or relatives arriving or all the cooking yet to be done on Christmas Day. Sit. Be still. Silent night, holy night.
After all the anticipation of Christmas, which is really the anticipation of the coming of the Christ child, we must not “miss” His arrival by not fully taking it in. We have to quiet ourselves and connect with the One who came to save us.
A Gift for Jesus
In addition to really enjoying church and thinking about the wonder of Christmas ~ that God Himself came as a baby named Jesus to be with us and to save us! ~ we need to ask ourselves a question. One last Christmas gift question: what does Jesus want for His birthday? What Christmas gift are we giving Him?
Jesus wants the same thing we want in our closest relationships. Time together. Some time alone with Jesus is the gift He wants most from us. It’s not that He doesn’t appreciate the things we do this month to celebrate and to make the holidays special for other people, but we must not do all those things and then forget about Him.
The Present of Being Present
The best present we can give Jesus is to be present with Him. Fully present. Looking into His face and thanking Him for coming and enjoying the amazing love He has for us and to say we love Him too. He came so we could have a relationship with Him. So let’s be sure to take some time during these busy days of final preparations to participate in that relationship. Even a few minutes, to quiet down on the inside, to pray and thank Him and love Him, will be the best gift of all.
When can you plan to spend some time with Jesus in the next few days?