Lights

 "What must it be like, I wondered, to put hearing God ahead of being heard?"

"Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone." Deuteronomy 6:4

I'm going to confess that I struggle every single Christmas season.

I know many of you love to be the maker of all the magic, the buyer of all the things, the bringer of all the goodies.

I always struggle with trying to keep the Jesus at the forefront.

I don't want to squash the magical or be the Grinch.

I just want to remember that we are spending the next few weeks in great anticipation.

Not just for my kids, but for me.

So I can see the Light, be the light.

I get frustrated with the budget balancing, and the list making, and the "oh by the way I'm supposed to take this to work/school/church" aspect of Christmas. By the time Christmas morning arrives, I often feel emotionally, physically and financially drained.

I sat my people down this year and my heart said "I want to be generous and joyful in our giving AND in our attending so let's choose wisely."

I'm not sure it was heard or received that way as I've begun to feel like the Grinch.

I've been soaking this weekend this idea of balance.

And have decided it's not balance we need. It's balance we think we need, balance we try to create.

But what we really need is INTENTIONAL LIVING.

And sometimes intentional living is not balanced in the eyes of society today.

The preacher this morning reminded me that in this season of crazy "look for the Light."

I'm a literal math person so I found two strings of white lights, and I hung those stinkers up on the window I am near the majority of the day.

Peanut came in the room and threw her hands in the air with excitement.

Yes, that's Christmas.

This unbridled joy at the coming of the baby King.

That's what I want to intentionally tilt my focus toward.

Not balancing.

But choosing.

When I look at those lights, each time I pass them, I breathe in the breath prayer. In Jesus, out Crazy.

Mama Warriors, let's not try to balance some scale that we all know never will. Especially not in the next 25 days.

Instead, let's be intentional with our choices.

Let's choose the things that feed our soul, that let us see the Light, and let us be the light.

Let's just for the next few weeks ponder what if HEARING God was the only goal?