Last Post for Christmas

Christmas Eve is almost upon us so I'd better get in a last little post before the new year. It's my last work day and like many of you, I'm trying to tease out the motivation to tie up some bits and pieces it would make sense to do before the break. And of course the crazy, commercial British Christmas means I also feel like I should be running around doing (& buying) things right now. Every year, I decide that one year I'm going to escape to a small island and just celebrate the real Christmas. Of course I always a) forget this plan by the next year & b) have to admit that I'm looking forward to all the food and merriment you can fit into the fridge in this household. 

Last night I spent time with a couple of supporters. It was another one of those catch-ups where I felt it was much more them encouraging me than the other way around. A couple of the stories that they shared I've heard before. Yet I really appreciated hearing them again because they are a reminder of how big God is and how much more is going on in the world than what I'm experiencing here and now (which seems this week to consist mostly of sparkly things and every Christmas song from the last 40 years that refuses to die out). We were talking last night about how God really wants to 'be' with us and is more pleased by this than any of our 'doing'. Of course the 'doing' of things to serve God, love our neighbour and care for the world are great. But we get so caught up in the 'doing' that we forget to just rest in His presence. And perhaps it's even more difficult when we think we can separate the 'doing' of things for His Kingdom from the 'doing' of other things in life. 

I know that I'm such a list-ticker-offer that I'm constantly struggling to spend time with God because I'm eager to get on with the other 'more important' things. And of course with all the ironies of how Christmas looks in my part of the world today, it's even harder to be still at this time of year. In fact it feels almost impossible without escaping to the above mentioned island - and had I achieved this, I'd probably be trying to locate the one pub around with free wifi.

So I am going to try and pause every now and then today... and tomorrow. Hopefully on Christmas Day too. And as we sing more carols over the coming days, I'm going to try and focus on the beautiful absurdity (by all earthly logic) of God sending his Son to be born out in a smelly stable, shortly before his family flee the violence of their home and head to another country. 

Thanks for reading this year. Merry Christmas!
Rachel x