An Intentional Christmas

Sometimes even though my word for 2017 has been Intentional, it seems like intentionality finds me in curious ways.  Going into November I didn't really think about celebrating Christmas intentionally.  I was just trying to survive.  

Then it happened...

I felt God telling me I had to stop and slow down.

I was doing lots of good things, but they were not necessarily the best things.

It can be funny how we get caught up doing and being part of something and we miss the fact that we are losing who God created us to be in the middle of all the activity.

So I listened 

(after several weeks of sickness that forced rest on me)

And I stopped...

And then I started to hear again...

It is amazing how quickly we can lose the still small voice that God uses to speak His truth into our lives.  

A podcast I listened to recently suggested that the reason God speaks so softly and quietly is so we have to lean in close to him to hear...

I loved the visual this creates....

It makes me think of my own daughters...

One of my favorite things to do in the middle of a tickle fight is to pull them close and say...

"I love you so much!"

And that is how my Christmas season has become Intentional...

In a moment of wrestling and struggling with all the unknowns that loom in my near future God pulled me close and whispered... 

"I love you so much!

I have plans for you that you can't even begin to imagine

and I am working it all out in my time.

I'm working on your future so you can just be and enjoy the present."

So as November faded into the past and December became my present, I began looking for ways to intentionally enjoy a time of year that can be so chaotic and crazy.  

So far we have managed three different visits with Santa for Myka, my oldest daughter.

We have shared the excitement of our annual Victorian Christmas celebration with our community.

We have painted ornaments, made cookies, just driven around looking at Christmas lights.

My husband and I took the time to cram ourselves into a little train because a three year old asked, 

"Can you ride with me?"

We are just twelve days into December, but I have unintentionally met goals early by suddenly having the margin to invest energy I did not have before I listened and stopped.

I have been learning in this Year of Intentional that intentionality is not something that comes easy.

It can look great on a motivational poster.

It sounds really inspiring.

The reality...

It is really hard...

For me this year Intentional has met setting boundaries that protect my physical and emotional health and holding those boundaries even when it becomes uncomfortable.

Intentional has been saying no when the desire to please screams that I should say yes.

But as we come to the end of the year I feel like I am recognizing exactly how much this one word has changed my life.  

The word Intentional has taught me better self care and in teaching me that it has made me a better wife, mother and friend.

Being Intentional has helped me create margin so that I can slow down and listen just a little more closely for that holy whisper that says...

"I love you so much!"

Peace vs Chaos

Chaos....  It's the week of Christmas.  In fact it's the Eve of Christmas Eve, all around us there is rushing to get those perfect last minute gifts.  To cover everyone on the list that we might have forgotten...  The mailman, the paperboy, did we get the distant relatives their fruitcake.  We take a season that inundates us with songs about peace on earth and we join in the chaos that is anything, but peace.

Peace....  It's such a calming word.  Just saying it makes one start to relax...  Until you remember that you still need to wrap all of those presents and get them under the tree.  Oh, and does overnight mail really make it overnight or should you drive the 3 hours and just deliver the package yourself?  Although you really don't have that time since you need to wrap still more presents and then get ready for one family gathering on Christmas Eve and yet another Christmas morning.  And then there's the Christmas Eve service at church or should you try to squeeze in some time volunteering for the dinner the church has agreed to host at the nearest shelter.  Which will appease God the most during this crazy time of year?  Which one fills the requirement of "goodwill to men" the best?  The decisions pile up and scream to be addressed and still Christmas creeps closer and closer while you just don't have enough minutes in the days left until the big event!

We stuff our lives so full of activity at this time of year.  We do it all in the name of good, but is it really?  I've been giving it some thought this year as our family has decided to not get caught up in the chaos that surrounds Christmas.  

I sometimes think as Christians we've become caught up in the commercialism that surrounds the time of year that we celebrate the birth of Christ.  We get caught up in the chaos that is the world around us.  Do we ever stop to think about the events that surround that insignificant night in Bethlehem centuries ago?  

I say insignificant because that's really what it was.  When you think of the media coverage that surrounds the birth of the latest British royal and compare it to the fact that the first to acknowledge the birth of this baby that was likely just one of several born in Bethlehem were mere sheep herders that night really isn't significant from a world view.  In fact the chances are that night the occupation by the Roman government and military was of much greater significance than the young couple from out of town who had their first child.  So in a time filled with the chaos, confusion and unrest that comes when one country is occupied by another there comes a baby boy.  A baby boy who's birth announcement is delivered to rough shepherds in a field by angels.  I love the way the NIV translates Luke 2:14 

"Glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth peace to those on whom His favor rests."

Peace.... There's that word again.  Peace, what does it mean?  I think often we believe that it means an end to war both physical and spiritual wars.  But that child was born into a nation occupied by another government.  And 30 plus years later when he was put to death that same foreign power still controlled his homeland.  Kind of challenges the idea of peace.

So what if peace means something totally different than what we think of this time of year?  What if peace means that the purpose of his birth was to bring peace in us as a counter to the chaos that surrounds us?  What if the "peace to those on whom His favor rests" is intended to be a gift that we are given?  What if it's God giving us the opportunity to throw off the chains of chaos and duty and to purposefully invest in moments of quiet?  What if it's not just moments what if it's the opportunity to live our entire lives with a tranquility and quiet inside us that defies the chaotic, busy world around us? 

Sounds great and unrealistic, right?  But does it have to be?   That same baby boy who's birth was announced with the phrase "peace to those on whom His favor rests" went on to share with his followers that:

"Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called the children of God"

Is it possible that by choosing to live in the chaos that surrounds not just Christmas, but is the accepted not just in the world around us, but in the work we claim to do for the Christ who promoted peace we miss out on unimaginable blessings?  Have we turned relationships into tasks to be accomplished rather than a whitespace moment to spend with a friend that will add beauty and meaning to our lives?  Have we begun to thrive on the white noise that surrounds us and no longer recognize that God speaks in stillness?  If in his favor God extends peace then are we choosing to decline His favor by opting to live in the chaos and call it God's work?  Is it possible that we are settling for less than God's best for us in neglecting one of the key reasons he sent us his Son?

So on the Eve before Christmas Eve, I'd like to invite you to opt out of the chaos.  Stop and find a moment to explore what peace means to God.  We're surrounded with songs that remind us about holy nights, moments of peace, simplicity and we have a choice.  We can become a counterbalance to the new kind of chaos that exists in our world today or we can join it and never fully grasp what peace on earth truly means.