What May I Be Missing?

I made a spread sheet.  I didn’t want to miss a thing.

I thought it was a good idea. I thought it would help me to be efficient in accomplishing my goal to complete our Christmas shopping list.

I’m not terribly computer literate, but I figured out how to make a column for each kid, and under their names I mapped out what we already bought them in black and what I still needed to pick up for them in red.

I thought it was pretty snazzy, however ...

Although it looked good, it didn’t really help all that much.  I still find myself blanketed in busyness, of one sort or another.

So much to do, so little time.  Does anyone else feel the same?

Perhaps  on the night that Jesus was born, the people of that day were much the same as we are – some of us are. Busy. Distracted.  Fragmented. Oh, sure, they didn’t have the technology to make a spread sheet of all the things they had to get done, but I bet they were in a flurry of activity.  Many people were gathering in Bethlehem that night to register for the census. The mothers were likely busy with activity --  mouths to feed, people to make room for, dynamics to prepare for.

It was hectic – kind of like right now.

They missed out on the baby Jesus coming in to the world, and I am asking myself, "What may I be missing, too?"

As I've been asking I can sense the Lord leading me back to remembering -- remembering what Christmas was all about then and what it is still is all about now. Taking time to look for ways that the light of Jesus is shining in to the darkness and being open to being a part of His plan – a plan not held and organized on a spread sheet, but held in the palm of His hand. 

This plan that is part of His love for His people – then and now –  I desire to  witness it and I desire to be a part of it. I don't want to miss a thing.