In Time for Christmas

I have been away from my time with God for the past week or so and have not communed with Him. My only excuse, and it is an excuse and hardly a legitimate one, is bringing home a new baby and getting kids off for home visits. Even as I say it, I know it is lame because none of those things ought to ever stand in the way of my relationship with God. I have begun to feel over the past week, a distance again in my relationship to God, because I have failed to spend time with Him. I have begun to feel stressed, in a chaotic mess of things to do, and been very irritable. I am constantly reminded how fallible I am and how much I need the DAILY, MOMENT BY MOMENT, refreshing and strengthening presence of God. This hit me last night when I went to a "Sounds of Christmas" musical presentation at First Baptist Church in Danville. As I sat and listened to the music and the lyrics, I looked at my own heart first and then at the people in the room around me, I wondered how sincere the words being sung were. I had to admit, for my own heart, that they were not. I sing out of familiarity, not out of sincerity. It was just the kick in the pants I needed to make it a priority to get back on top of my time with God.

So, instead of resuming in Romans this week as I had intended, I going to spend the entire week looking at Christ and the significance of Christmas in my life. I want to see Christmas in a new way this year and be challenged by seeing it with a new set of eyes.

Can I encourage you to as well? Lets see Christmas as it was intended to be instead of how we have made it to be.