“Normally, I would be lunging madly through stores with that rabid-bull-on-the-loose expression.”
I am having trouble connecting some ideas together this year. Christmas season looms on the near horizon and yet I haven't begun to panic.
Normally, I would be in a terror-driven frenzy by now. I would be lunging madly through stores with that rabid-bull-on-the-loose expression so common to men at this time of year. I would be sweating with anxiety over the idea that someone else might get the perfect gift for my wife (thus robbing me of the glory). However, this year something isn't connecting. I am filled with peace and contentment. I accept that this year Christmas is coming just like it did this time last year, but I am relaxed about it.
Now many of you who are familiar with me personally, might simply write this off as me having finally slid off the precipice. However, I ask that you not be hasty in judging me. This year the old ideas aren't connecting because something is different.
What's different? It's the influence of the Holy Spirit. See, I have been trying to pay more attention to what He says about things. I have been spending more time in prayer, sometimes just waiting, listening, trying to hear what He might be saying that I need to hear. As a result, I am not running amok trying to herd other shoppers away from what I want to buy.
Perhaps this is a thing that we could all do. Christmas is the time when we celebrate Jesus coming to earth as a man. It is not a time for terror-driven panic. It is a time to stop and listen to the snow flakes falling, to hold your wife's hand in the car, to cuddle your son or daughter on your lap. It's a time to feel peace and joy and love for each other.
At this very moment, Jesus loves you and me. We can take His love and wear it to protect ourselves from people like me who are usually running amok this time of year. In fact, given the chance, we can use the love of Jesus to help all the amok runners slow down and enjoy His presence.
Praise God.
Geoff Clarke is a wonderful friend who serves with the Hammond Plains Christian Church in Nova Scotia, Canada.