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Christmas

On the first day of Christmas…

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Of all the things we want, what we want most is meaning.
Because in the midst of this season — you need Christmas for you too.
Because you’re tired of asking — Where did the wonder go?
Because this year, you’re desperate to hush the hurry & find the holy. To feel the reason to rejoice!
Because you don’t want to wake up Christmas morning — and feel like you somehow missed Him.
Come. This year can be different. That’s a gift you want — & He wants for you.

When I first read this, written by Ann VosKamp, my entire soul was crying out “YES!” Yes, I want more meaning! Yes, I want the wonderment of Christmas back! I don’t want to just consume Christmas, I want to experience it.

Can you believe there are just 12 days until Christmas? (I can’t! How has the month of December slipped by so quickly?!) Let’s count down these next 12 days together in encouragement and laughter and continue to be sensitive to Him in all of our moments leading up to “the big day” so that we don’t wake Christmas morning and wonder how we missed Him in all of it.

So, on this first day of Christmas, I am going to invite you to open up an early gift. (Those are always great, right?) This particular gift can begin to color your Christmas in an entirely different light.

Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” (Luke 2:8-14)

A baby is born, but not just any baby, a baby who injects peace and joy and love into a broken and hurting world. When the angels sang about peace on earth that first Christmas night I have to wonder if they had any idea what kind of promise they were making.

The Christmas expectation bar…it gets raised every year. The unique, one-of-a-kind, thoughtful gift that not only rivals, but tops last year’s. (And if you have to fight someone else for it, that makes it that much better.) Christmas dinner that looks like a banquet spread for royalty complete with a starched linen tablecloth and 263 piece table setting. Packages wrapped with paper and bows that coordinate not only with the tree (fresh cut and strung with 15,000 lights, of course) but the rest of the meticulously placed decorations. Baked goods (in bulk quantities) that look like they could be decorations themselves and disappear quickly at the hands of the kids while you wonder if they even tasted them. This time of year our thoughts tend to get set into fast-forward as do our feet and we have lists for our lists. (At least I do, I love lists!) This is why when I read VosKamp’s words I was ready to slam on the brakes.

Christmas has become a watered down holiday that starts at Halloween and ends for so many people anti-climatically in an exhausted heap on Christmas morning. The world today is a fast-paced, immediate gratification, need, need, need, bigger, newer, shinier place. But at Christmas, with a soundtrack featuring Bing Crosby and Nat King Cole, I can close my eyes and picture my Norman Rockwell painting of Christmas. But the reality is more often a fighting, noisy, grouchy, too-much-to-do-not-enough-time production that stretches our patience and our bank accounts, accompanied to the tune of Dominic the Christmas Donkey. (How is that even a Christmas song by the way?) So how can we break through the chaos and the noise of this season and rediscover the wonder?

CF Richardson said, “If peace be in the heart, the wildest winter storm is full of solemn beauty.” Christmas is kind of like that wild winter storm but if we have peace in our hearts, Christmas, even in all of its demanding chaos, with the baking, and the wrapping, and the Santa line, and the kids all hopped up on Christmas spirit and sugar, and the out-of-town-family can be beautiful. The key is peace. And peace is found on this night, wrapped in swaddling cloths, surrounded by farm animals, lying in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn. Is that what we do sometimes? Have we hung a no vacancy sign on our lives, whether or not we even realize it in our busyness and self-sufficiency? Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without the obligatory visit to the manger, most often it happens on Christmas eve, but is it just a short layover between dinner and Santa or is it something more?

I love Christmas, I love the traditions, the baking, the decorations, the pretty packages and presents, I love Santa. (I may even love the chaos at little bit.) I am not suggesting that we remove those things from our celebrations. If anything think about how much more beautiful they would be when infused with peace and a deeper purpose to the season. Peace on earth, come to us. If you find yourself stressed out, and in search of the ever elusive peace we sing about, then I would venture to say that you have hung that no vacancy sign. It is so easy to get caught up in doing Christmas the way the world tells us Christmas should be done and lost in the expectations that we put on ourselves to create the perfect holiday, that we don’t spend time kneeling at the manager, allowing ourselves the gifts of peace.

We desperately need the wonder of Christmas again — and the miracle of real change. And it can start right here in the midst of the crazy with peace. Peace that extends beyond Christmas day into our families, our marriages, our jobs. Sometimes it feels like we are engaged in a great battle and all we want is a break, an opportunity to say “Time out!” so that we can catch our breath before re-engaging, especially during craziness of the holidays.

Max Lucado says, “We cannot have the peace of God until we have peace with God.” Looking for peace without God is like trying to swim upstream, it is exhausting, a constant battle. We can’t fight our way to peace; it’s not something you “do.” This peace, a lasting heartfelt peace, is a gift from God.

“For unto us a Child is born. Unto us a Son is given. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6)

On the first day of Christmas my True Love gave to me, Peace…

Run and Be Still

So, What Have You Been Up To?

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I know it’s been a long time…too long. Let me bring you up to speed on what I have been mixed up in. Oh September, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

1.) Birthdays – 7 of them that we celebrated to be precise. Including a slumber party for my now 12 year old daughter and 5 of her nearest and dearest where the conversation swung from ISIS, to music, to “Did you see what she did/wore/fill in the blank” and back again in the blink of an eye around the breakfast table. (Breakfast is one of my favorite times for conversation with my kids and their friends. Maybe it’s because they aren’t quite awake yet or aren’t in a hurry to go off and do “things” but I have found that if I feed them good food they will hang around and keep eating and keep talking and you can learn a lot! And they never fail to make me laugh!)

sports2.) Sporting events – which means practices, and feeding the team, and ticket taking, and ticket selling, and lots of cheering, and even more prayers blasted heavenward for protection. (Thankfully our only ER trip has been on a Sunday afternoon for an infected cut that looked pretty nasty and had gone from 0 to oozing and disgusting in the span of 36 hours.) Then there is a little job I got my husband and myself into this year called Visiting Locker Room Ambassadors. Trust me, not as fancy as the title sounds. In all of this I am considering buying an RV and living in the parking lot at the football field. It would make life much simpler.

3.) Travel – I spent the end of August and beginning of September getting ready for my trip to New York where I made some wonderful new friends and had the opportunity for some real “life” conversations. This was a mid-week trip which meant all the members of my household realized how much “behind-the scenes” work goes on that they were unaware of and yet even out-of-state I was the go-to middle man coordinating rides and pick-up times, and last minute changes of plans.

4.) Homework, Homecoming, and House Renovation – Back to school…back to homework. All I will say is that sometimes a new teacher’s expectations of their students aren’t quite realistic. We are struggling through the work load and learning great life lessons while we do it (says the mom confidently out loud even when she don’t always agree with it in her head.) Then there was the first homecoming and the flowers and new dress clothes (to coordinate with a specific dress color) and the honor of being the freshman attendant and the stress of which group to go with and the parties…which brings me to the house renovations.

I snapped this when the furniture guys went out to "get some tools." I am not sure what tools they thought they had that would have made this fit.
I snapped this when the furniture guys went out to “get some tools.” I am not sure what tools they thought they had that would have made this fit.

“Have a homecoming party” mom says. “We’ll reno the back room in the basement” mom says. “It’ll be great” mom says. So I watch a few hours of HGTV and suddenly I am an expert and have my husband and son removing load-bearing walls and installing header beams and we were all pulling crazy hours in the underworld of our home. (There were only a few tense moments and sleepless nights when my husband was convinced our house was caving in…the things he does for love!)  The furniture delivery guys just got the couch “slightly” stuck in the doorway and had to develop a Plan B (Pivot! Pivot! for my fellow Friends fans) but the basement was finished (enough) in time and my house was full (and loud) and we loved it! (And I think the kids did too.)

The month of September was packed full of craziness, and great experiences, and as always lots of fun. But because of that I have all of these thoughts filling my head, bouncing around off of each other and I can only hope that as they begin to pour out I can make them make some logical sense. (I kind of feel like my head is a balloon that is filled too full and about to burst.)

Here is a taste of some of what is going on up there and headed to you in the coming days…

I am loving getting older (yes, crazy) but I am finally confident in me for the sake of me and not anyone else. CS Lewis said, “The more we let God take us over, the more truly ourselves we become – because He made us. He invented all the different people that you and I were intended to be…It is when I turn to Christ, when I give up myself to His personality, that I first begin to have a real personality of my own.” Love that!

In New York I talked a lot about moments and I want to share some of that with you too. When you think about your life what are you really thinking about? What defines our lives? It’s the moments…the snapshots of memories that are framed like pictures in our minds. These are the building block of our triumphs and our tragedies. Some of my most treasured moments have occurred in the everyday. Moments also frame the pain that leave us breathless and forever changed. I have learned that God’s most gracious gifts are delivered to us exactly in these moments. Steve Maraboli said, “Sometimes it’s the same moments that take your breath away that breathe purpose and love back into your life.” YES! Who isn’t searching for purpose and love?!

And then, I am a fan of the big gesture. I have shared that before. Go big or go home. I have big dreams, big plans. God has been teaching me a lot about the small lately though and I am beginning to understand on a deeper level Ephesians 3:20 “Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.” “Infinitely more” to me means huge, big things happening here in the infinitely more place, but I am learning that God is a fan of the small. The small is what, through His mighty power, turns into something big, and chances are we don’t even have a clue.  The words of Secretary-General of the United Nations, Dag Hammarskjold come to mind. “It is more noble to give yourself completely to one individual than to labor diligently for…the masses.” Christ left the ninety-nine for the one. So I will challenge you as I find myself challenged to embrace the small.

So much to say…so little time to say it!

Encouragement

This too shall pass…

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I have recently found myself pondering some very important questions. For example, is my car invisible? I have really begun to believe this may actually be truth with as many people as have pulled out in front of me, even though there are no cars behind me! This has not been a one time occurrence but instead more like a daily treat! And then as a follow up question. Why, if you are in such a hurry, that you must pull out in front of me, can you not at least do the speed limit? I have also been recently questioning if my speedometer is not set correctly as every car I am behind seems to be doing 15 miles an hour less than the speed limit. I am not a speed demon by any means, and I try to build some flex time into my travel, but not 15 extra minutes of flex time! This is white-knuckle driving, not because of bad road conditions, but because of the death grip I have on the steering wheel in frustration as the minutes tick by and I get later and later for wherever I am on my way to.

Quick, how would you describe your life right now in five words or less?

Me? I would say I am on my way. That’s how I feel like I live. I am always on my way somewhere. On my way to take the kids to school then depending on the day, I could be on my way to work, either on location or at home. Once there I try to cram as much as I can into the hours between 10 and 2 before being on my way back to pick the kids up from school. Then we are on our way to a music lesson or sports practice (or both), or possibly to feed a sports team if it’s an away game day (which often means fitting baking somewhere in between those precious “working” hours.) Then I am on my way to a sporting event, or on my way to the grocery store to pick up a random item that I need (even though I make lists, there is always something missing when I get home!) Many days I can be found at both. Then it’s on my way home to make dinner, probably do a load (or two) of laundry, help with homework (the dreaded math!) tidy up the mess we have all left in our wake throughout the day, then maybe work a little bit more if 10-2 didn’t accomplish everything on the day’s must-do list and then I am on my way to bed. A picture of a fairly typical day, where a lot of hours are spent on my way to somewhere, in my invisible car.

As the saying goes though, this too shall pass. There are plenty days when the last thing I want to do is get back and the car, and be “on my way” but there is going to come a day, in the not so distant future, when I won’t have to, so I am not complaining.

It seems like just yesterday I was tripping over toys strewn across the family room, changing diapers, and buckling kids into car seats. And now, I look at my two quickly growing children, young adults really, and I realize where we are really on our way to. I pray that as we quickly make our way towards the next chapter in our family that we can teach them enough, prepare them enough. I can’t always protect them from the world, although I try. I can’t save them from themselves some days, although I try. Some days I feel like I am literally in a tug of war match with Satan over them. We mess up, we get angry, I am far from a perfect mother, and I do not have perfect children, or a perfect family, but we try. The beautiful thing is we don’t have to be perfect. Perfection is not our standard. We just have to have a little bit of forgiveness (sometimes a little harder to come by than others) and love. Love the Lord our God, love our neighbor, love our children (and our parents), love our enemy. (That last one can be tough, I know, but this isn’t the a la carte menu. We can’t pick and choose, so love your enemy, with some help from God.)

I don’t know how you described you life (or if you even humored me when I asked you to.) I don’t know where you are in life. Today, I share my “spot in time” with you in hopes of encouragement. Know that whatever you are facing today, whatever your description was, good, bad, or filled with a little bit of crazy, I can only tell you this…it will pass. Sometimes that passing is bittersweet, but if you can keep God-centered, you won’t lose your way or your hope.

If you are having a bad day today, you are not alone. God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.” (Heb 13:5) Find rest, refuge, and peace in Jesus. “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” (Matt 11:28) “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

If you are having a good day, remember the Lord, “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! His faithful love endures forever.” (Psalms 107:1) “Let all that I am praise the Lord; with my whole heart, I will praise His holy name. Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things He does for me.” (Psalms 103:1-2)

And if you find yourself more like me, with an invisible car, smack dab in the middle of crazy, hold on tight and use the Lord as your balance. Crazy can be wonderful if you don’t let it run you over. Remember, in the midst, God wants to be the center of our day, seek Him first, His kingdom and His righteousness (Matt 6:33) In all things (this goes for the good and bad days too) pray without ceasing (1 Thess 5:17.) Talk to God, share your day with Him. This is real life, and He wants to be a part of yours, no matter what it looks like.

And remember, this too shall pass…

“For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to harvest… A time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to dance.” (Ecc 3:1-2,4)

Christmas

Don’t Bull Rush Christmas

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rushAh, the sounds of Christmas…carols playing softly, a crackling fire and WAIT! Not in my house. Here is what Christmas sound like in our house (it’s more fun if you sing it…)

Hark how the bells, phones, and the texts, ring through the house, giving no rest. MOM WHERE IS THIS? MOM I NEED THAT! He’s touching me. She started it! Merry merry merry merry Christmas! Merry merry merry merry Christmas!

I am so bored. Can I go here? Please take me there. I need a dozen cookies. I need a dozen more please! She’s got my stuff! He started it! Merry merry merry merry Christmas! Merry merry merry merry Christmas!

It’s picture time. Can’t you sit still? Just look right here. You have a Christmas concert? You have to be at practice? Get in the car! We need more gas. Merry merry merry merry Christmas! Merry merry merry merry Christmas!

A picture of Christmas for so many of us, right? I wrote this last year for our Christmas cards, a picture of the days leading up to our Christmas, written in jest but based in reality. And then more recently I read this, “When it’s so easy to be overbooked, overstretched, and about to snap, STOP! Otherwise you will bulldoze right past some of life’s most precious moments.”

More than ever, this year I have a desire to do more than just have Christmas. I want to experience Christmas. Here is my advent challenge. I want to open my heart up to be present in the season today, not bulldoze through it in anticipation of tomorrow, or next week. I don’t want to bull rush my way to Christmas day. I want to make this very moment count. I want to allow my soul to awaken to the thrills of the Lord’s presence as I move through this holiday season. I love Jacob’s words in Genesis, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it!” These words echo in my heart as a reminder to slow down and notice Emmanuel, God with us, this season.

Merry merry merry merry Christmas!

A Challenge

A dead battery

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runnotfaintAs I sit in the waiting area of yet another doctor’s office on this Friday morning I am feeling a bit worn down. I have already had three blood tests this week to verify some abnormal test results which takes a toll both mentally and physically. Today though, I am not here for myself. I am sitting in prayerful support of someone near and dear to my heart, and in some ways I think that is more difficult. It’s been a week of halting stops and starts, quite literally, as even this morning when I went to start my car I found the battery dead. It turns out the light was left on all night, slowly draining all the life giving force from my car. Sitting here in the waiting area my mind began to wander and I couldn’t help but connect the dots in my head…the light left on in the car drains the battery. Our light left constantly burning, will also drain us. Even if lit as a lighthouse, shining as a beacon of hope for others, and guiding them towards a relationship with Christ. If we don’t take some time to be still, to refill our battery’s charge, we will soon become weary. Our light will burn out. I came across this enlightenment from Watchman Lee this week in regards to Daniel 7:25 and the idea of how we become worn out.

Satan has, in fact, a plan against the saints of the Most High, which is to wear them out. What is meant by this phrase, “wear out?” It has in it the idea of reducing a little this minute, then reducing a little further the next minute. Reduce a little today, reduce a little tomorrow. Thus the wearing out is almost imperceptible; nevertheless, it is a reducing. The wearing down is scarcely an activity of which one is conscious, yet the end result is that there is nothing left. He will take away your prayer life little by little and cause you to trust God less and less and yourself more and more, a little at a time. He will make you feel somewhat cleverer than before. Step by step, you are misled to rely more on your own gift, and step by step, your heart is enticed away from The Lord. Now, were Satan to strike the children of a God with great force at one time, they would know exactly how to resist the enemy since they would immediately recognize his work. He uses the method of gradualism to wear down the people of God.

I found such truth in these words. Little by little, day by day, a few excuses, a few rationalizations, and suddenly we look up and wonder how we managed to wander so far from the path we thought we were on. We suddenly find ourselves exhausted. Rest in the Lord, spend time with Him. Carolyn Lunn says, “There is a difference between living in Christ and living for Christ…He is more interested in the time you spend with Him than with the works you accomplish in His name.” You will wear yourself out working for Him if you aren’t living in Him. Satan will have won and it will have been all in the name of Jesus. This weekend my challenge to you is that you spend some time in Christ and allow Him to begin fortifying the areas that Satan has been wearing thin.

But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.  They will soar high on wings like eagles.  They will run and not grow weary.  They will walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40:31, NLT)

Encouragement

Just Say No

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“Raise your hand if you’re overwhelmed. Raise your hand if you think you might finally get down to just whelmed sometime after the second zombie apocalypse. Raise your hand if you’d like a break. Raise your hand if you think that break is just never going to come. Now raise your hand if all the chainsaws you were juggling just took turns slicing off your earlobes because you had your hands in the air waving at me.”

I read this this week while sitting in the waiting room at a doctors office and it nearly made me laugh out loud. Overwhelmed? I am pretty sure I’ve got the corner on that market. The reason I was sitting in the doctors office? I was supposed to have a monthly blood test a week ago on Friday and it wasn’t until Tuesday morning that I realized that I had completely missed and forgot about it. My head is so full of stuff that things are absolutely beginning to fall through the cracks. Things that are very, very important. I have spread myself so thin that no one is getting much more than a partial effort because unfortunately, that’s all I have to give.

So, a couple of things today. First, just say no! This is something that I really struggle with but I am telling you, as much as reminding myself, that it is ok to say no. In fact, it is imperative to your sanity. You cannot be everything to everyone, I am sorry to inform you. I often am reminded of this the hard way, by crashing and burning. I read this in Rick Warren’s “What On Earth Am I Here For?” and it was the permission I was looking for in order to say no with less guilt. “Knowing your purpose simplifies your life. Your purpose becomes the standard you use to evaluate which activities are essential and which aren’t. It is impossible to do everything people want you to do. You have just enough time to do God’s will. If you can’t get it all done, it means you’re trying to do more than God intended for you to do. If you want your life to have impact, focus it! Stop dabbling. Stop trying to do it all. Do less. Prune away even good activities and do only that which matters most. Never confuse activity with productivity. You can be busy without a purpose, but what’s the point? Paul said, ‘Let’s keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us.’ (Philippians 3:15 msg). Again, it’s ok to say no, even to good things, even to Godly things. “If you find yourself a bit irritated or overwhelmed its a sign that you’re spending less time with God and more time with this world.”

Secondly, I wanted to share an analogy about glass and rubber balls. Let me paraphrase…Everything in your life is a ball. Some are rubber balls, and some are glass balls. It’s your job to determine which are which and handle them as such. Rubber balls, if dropped, will bounce right back up, none the worse for wear. Glass balls, however, will shatter if dropped. So you need to figure out which balls you’re juggling, and how many of each, and make sure that if you’re going to drop a ball, that it bounces back up to you and not shatter to pieces.

I don’t know how your week has been but I KNOW I need to remember, cease striving…be still…know God. That is the only way the rest if this crazy life makes any sense!

Still Moments

An empty wagon

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He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul. (Psalms 23:2b, 3a NKJV)

Still waters, in Hebrew, “waters of rest.”

Still waters run deep…a quiet or placid manner that may conceal a more passionate nature.

I came across a saying while reading recently that I had never heard before. An empty wagon rattles most. I would be willing to bet that you can think of at least one person that embodies an empty wagon, reverberating noise bouncing around. Lots of fluff, not a lot of depth. These people tend to wear me out. They listen, not with the intent to understand, but instead with the intent to reply. This is the antithesis of still waters.

My husband and I have told our children many, many times, “You know, it is ok, not to talk.” They begin rattling on and on in the silence, feeling the need to fill it up. What is it that people fear in silence? What are we really afraid of hearing there? Why do people resist spending time quietly in the presence of God? Michelle McKinney Hammond says, “It’s amazing how many people say, ‘I don’t like being quiet, because when I get really quiet, I have to deal with myself.’ What they are really saying is at they don’t want to deal with the voice of God beginning to reveal things that need to be changed or rearranged in their lives. Intimacy automatically breeds change in our lives. When we don’t want to change and we want to just keep everything the way it is, we keep running from ourselves and from the voice of God. We get caught up in the busyness of life until we crash and burn. When we spend time in the presence of God and learn to really be still and listen, we hear Him saying, ‘I am Peace. I am Provision. Ultimately, I am God. I’ve got your back. I’ve got this situation in the palm of My hand.’ ”

“Go out and stand before me on the mountain,” the Lord told him. And as Elijah stood there, the Lord passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper.(1 Kings 19:11-12)

If we can sift through all of the other noise and allow the quiet into our lives we will suddenly understand the rest and refreshment available beside the still waters. It may require us to examine some painful areas in our lives that we would rather ignore but in that quiet we will also find healing and grace. We will begin to find something deeper, something more meaningful than white noise. Those deep, still waters, have quieted many an empty wagon rattling along life’s surfaces.

Still Moments

Still Moments – Do Less, Accomplish More

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I needed this reminder today! I can’t be the only one, so I will share it!
Then, turning to his disciples, Jesus said, “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food to eat or enough clothes to wear. For life is more than food, and your body more than clothing. Look at the ravens. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for God feeds them. And you are far more valuable to him than any birds! Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? And if worry can’t accomplish a little thing like that, what’s the use of worrying over bigger things? (Luke 12:22-26 NLT)

For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12 NLT)

Commit your actions to the Lord, and your plans will succeed. (Proverbs 16:3 NLT)

Still Moments

What are you saying yes to?

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“A world of insight is hidden in four words in Matthew 14:22: ” He [Jesus] dismissed the crowd” (NIV). This wasn’t just any crowd that Jesus dismissed.
These weren’t casually curious.
These weren’t coincidental bystanders.
This was a multitude with a mission. They had heard the disciples. They had left their homes. They had followed Jesus around the sea. They had heard him teach and had seen him heal. They had eaten the bread. And they were ready to make him king.
Surely Jesus will commandeer the crowd and focus their frenzy. Surely he will seize the chance to convert the thousands. Surely he will spend the night baptizing the willing followers. No one would turn down an opportunity to minister to thousands of people, right?
Jesus did.
“He dismissed he crowd.” Why? Read verse 23: “After he dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray”(NIV).
He said no to the important in order to say yes to the vital.
He said no to a good opportunity in order to say yes to a better opportunity. It wasn’t a selfish decision. It was a deliberate choice to honor priorities. If Jesus thought it necessary to say no to the demands of the crowds in order to pray, don’t you think you and I should, too?”
Excerpt from Max Lucado’s “Experiencing the Heart of Jesus.”

Encouragement

You can’t DO peace…

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Calm me, O Lord, as You stilled the storm. Still me, O Lord, keep me from harm. Let all the tumult within me cease. Enfold me, Lord, in Your peace. (Celtic Traditional)
If you claimed yesterday’s prayer as your own (More than a cliché) and found your heart longing for more than a cliché as I did, the next logical question is, “So, now what?” You have a longing for something more. For me that longing is for calm, for peace, for still waters. Don’t we all want that? Peace in your family. Peace in your marriage. Peace in your job. Peace from an illness. Peace from pain. Sometimes it feels like we are engaged in a great battle and all we want is a break, an opportunity to say “Time out!” so that we can catch our breath before re-engaging. If you are like me you have recognized your need for something more and you have realized your inability to find this on your own. Without the hand of the savior guiding and holding onto us we will inevitably slip back into our old patterns and tendencies. I get very quickly tired of battling against my sinful nature when I try to do it on my own. I do not have enough in me, on my own, to defeat all that weighs me down. That is when we need to cry out “Lord, save me!”

“I find rest in God; only he gives me hope. He is my rock and my salvation. He is my defender; I will not be defeated. My honor and salvation come from God. He is my mighty rock and my protection. People, trust God all the time. Tell him all your problems, because God is our protection.” (Psalm 62:5-8)

Max Lucado says, “We must let go of our own security to experience lasting peace. Lasting peace comes only from God. We cannot have the peace of God until we have peace with God.” I personally love that last statement. Looking for peace without God is like trying to swim upstream, it is exhausting, a constant battle. We can’t fight our way to peace. Peace comes from letting go, it’s not something you “do.” Lucado goes on to say, “Experiencing Jesus’ peace often comes at a great price to our idea of security – what we can control. We have to let go of what we know and step out in faith.” This is where faith stops pretending and becomes real.

Today I heard this thought provoking question. When you reach the end of your life will you be able to look back and say that you really lived? Today, are you living or are you simply existing? Are you chasing a peace that always seems just beyond your reach? Maybe today you find yourself someplace you never thought you would be and you aren’t entirely sure how you even got there, but you know there has to be more than simply existing. If that is the case I invite you to seek God, allow yourself to “be led beside the still water.” Let Him have you, really have you. All of you, not just the pieces that you are willing to let go of. Choose what is better, choose peace. Find your rest in God.

Only God gives true peace – a quiet gift He sets within us just when we think we’ve exhausted our search for it. – anonymous