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A TV
commercial for a particular automobile features a high speed family. While
everything else in the picture seems to be in real time speed and
motion, the high speed family is a blur when it moves. They dash between
school and work situations and then off to recreational things pausing only
long enough to tout the virtues of the vehicle made for today's fast paced
family.
And boy, are we ever faced paced. Every place we go and everything
we do
is in a hurry. We even have to hurry when we are on vacation. When our
household had three high schoolers, their schedules were almost
over-whelming. Sometimes they clashed so much it was hard to keep even one
of them happy. Often they had to be at school in the morning at three
different times and came home in the evening at three different times.
Speed is an emotional and spiritual killer when it comes to the
Christmas season. Even in preparation for the first Christmas, God had Mary,
Jesus'
mother, slow down (read Luke 1:39-45). Things started moving fast when Mary
became pregnant by God's Spirit. This teenager was suddenly facing a
drastic change in her life. She got away for while by providentially
visiting her cousin Elizabeth, who was pregnant with John the Baptist. You
get a feeling of relaxed retreat when you read this.
One of the reasons so many of us get so we don't enjoy the holidays
is
because we don't take time to reflect on the birth of Christ and all that
meant to us. Start today taking time each day before rushing off into the
mayhem, to prayerfully reflect on God's great gift of love He shared with
us through the birth of His Son Jesus. SLOW DOWN!
All Scripture references are from the New American Standard Version unless otherwise noted.
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~ Slowing
Down
