It's the Home Stretch - Christmas Calls
Here it is, the fourth Sunday of Advent. Work beckons Monday, but I'm managed to get on top of my pressing items...although a couple of projects need to be completed Monday and Tuesday. It's the domestic stuff that's pressing right now, including some medical/physical problems with a couple of the old folks in our family - nothing critical, just a bit worrisome.
So here's a resolution: whatever else happens this there will be no anxiety about about shopping or anything like that. The key is to prepare for Christ's birth - period.
Got to confession Thursday - a good step; have 500 aspirations to say this week before Christmas ("Divine Infant of Bethlehem, come and take birth in my heart); need to send out Christmas cards, put up the Christmas tree lights (and other lights around the house), decorate the tree, set up the Lionel trains we still keep under the tree...and, oh, don't forget we're not done with the shopping for gifts.. It's all good stuff as long as you don't make it stressful. Sure, a lot of it is pressing, but that doesn't mean it's got to cause stress.
I've given up on trying to keep my mind, body and soul in "equilibrium" these days. Now it's just "trust in God." Trust in God for everything - and that includes all this Christmas prep stuff. In fact, this is a good test of just how much you really trust in God - when you go to Him like He's your Father (which He is!) and just ask for help. Just say you really can't manage all this very well on your own, and the leave it at that. Keep your mind and heart open and He'll help.
This week before Christmas will be a good test of just how strong, how solid, that trust really is.
So here's a resolution: whatever else happens this there will be no anxiety about about shopping or anything like that. The key is to prepare for Christ's birth - period.
Got to confession Thursday - a good step; have 500 aspirations to say this week before Christmas ("Divine Infant of Bethlehem, come and take birth in my heart); need to send out Christmas cards, put up the Christmas tree lights (and other lights around the house), decorate the tree, set up the Lionel trains we still keep under the tree...and, oh, don't forget we're not done with the shopping for gifts.. It's all good stuff as long as you don't make it stressful. Sure, a lot of it is pressing, but that doesn't mean it's got to cause stress.
I've given up on trying to keep my mind, body and soul in "equilibrium" these days. Now it's just "trust in God." Trust in God for everything - and that includes all this Christmas prep stuff. In fact, this is a good test of just how much you really trust in God - when you go to Him like He's your Father (which He is!) and just ask for help. Just say you really can't manage all this very well on your own, and the leave it at that. Keep your mind and heart open and He'll help.
This week before Christmas will be a good test of just how strong, how solid, that trust really is.
Divine Infant of Bethlehem, come and take birth in my heart.
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