Have you ever been completely content to just.be.home? We love to be out and about celebrating Christmas with friends and family. But a rare Sunday in December with absolutely no parties, no get-togethers, no plans other than worship and rest has been absolutely.glorious! This might sound lazily selfish…but after such a busy month already and much more to come…and a 12-hour shopping spree yesterday…a day of worship and rest is exactly what I needed today!
Now I, the task-master, certainly could have…and at first would have rather….chosen accomplishment instead. I have dozens of gifts to wrap, one pinterest-worthy gift yet to complete (yes…I CAN be crafty despite my deliberate avoidance of that tempting site like the plague in order to resist another addiction), and plenty of to-do lists yet to write let alone conquer. However after wrestling with the looming weariness I felt after church this morning, rest was something my body ached for as I dozed off certain it would only last a few minutes. After a few hours that could have easily lasted until morning we had a fabulous evening at home with our children watching the final Festival of Lights performance via live stream…which having 3 little ones we never managed to make it to…after our Advent devotional based on joy. And joy is exactly what I felt.
While I’ve been blessed to never be away from home at Christmas…what is home? It is more than bricks and morter…more than a house filled with familiar and comforting things…even more than whom those God blesses us with as part of our family. Home to me is the joy I feel when I think of what my God has done for me in sending His son to be my own personal Savior…when I remember all that Christ has so graciously done for me…when I hear my children speak of Jesus and the eternal hope and peace they find in Him. That overwhelming, all-consuming sensation is more than just a mere feeling of happiness. It cannot be duplicated or replaced, engineered or fabricated…it isn’t something that I can create or instill or achieve. It can only be found in Jesus.
If every good and perfect gift comes from above…then this delightful and rare December Sunday of worship and rest, and simply being home to experience the joy of Christ with my family today has got to be one of my favorite gifts this Christmas. We thankfully got our rest in today…because in looking at our calendar…we won’t have a day like this again until 2012. Praying you find joyful rest in Jesus this Christmas my dear, dear friends!
Wonders of HIS Love 