Christmas is here. It
is such a wonderful time to really celebrate and rejoice in the fact that God
made a way. God stepped into our mess
and sent His son so that we could approach Him and have a relationship with
Him. And we get to pause once a year to
celebrate and praise Him for that. But,
sadly that is not always the easiest thing to do, at least not for me.
Christmas in my life equates with
chaos. When I took my job I understood
that it would mean coordinating Christmas for all of the residents here but I
did not understand exactly how much that would require of me. I don’t think you can ever fully understand
or ever fully explain the chaos that is Christmas at a Children’s Home. I literally run from one place to another
picking up gifts, dropping them off, wrapping or unwrapping which ever needs to
happen, coordinating parties, attending parties, and somehow finding a way to
answer emails and calls along the way (so thankful for smart phones!) This is exactly why today I felt like such a
hypocrite in our Chapel Christmas service when I told the residents they really
had to stop and remember what this season was all about. See, I hadn’t stopped one time today and
remembered that Immanuel, God with us, was with me. That He had thought I was worth stepping down
out of Heaven and stepping into this mess of a world to be with me.
I had gotten so wrapped up in my work that I
had forgotten my mission.
Earlier in the day I had come from a meeting to my office
to drop something off and I needed to step into the gym to ask one of the group
leaders a question. When I went in, as
is normal, a few of the kids came up to me vying for my attention. A group of them were playing basketball on
one end so they quickly returned to their game but one girl didn’t. She’s not one of the popular kids; in fact
she doesn’t really have many friends at all.
She annoys them and so they exclude her which makes her try even harder
for them to like her which makes most of them like her even less. She had been playing ball by herself on the
other end of the gym, just enjoying life in her own little world until I came
in and she came over to say hello. She
then asked me to play ball with her. Of
course, I quickly explained that I had far too much to do and not enough time
to get it done much less enough time to play with her. I apologized, she returned to her game alone and I
continued on my mission to mark off things on my never ending to do list.
Now this is not one of those stories where I
tell you her world stopped and she burst into tears. In fact, I doubt that she was really affected
at all by this rejection. She’s used to
it. And that is what bothers me so
much. Nothing really happened because I
said no but think of what could have happened if I had said yes. If she had seen that I stopped living in my
own little world of things to do and paused, even if just for five minutes, to
spend a little time specifically with her, oh what that would have said to her
about how much I care for her. What if I had said you're worth me stopping everything for? I wish I
could say I went back in and played with her but I didn’t. I spent the remainder of the morning
accomplishing things and being productive and missed the one thing I truly
should have done today.
Christmas is a reminder that God says we’re worth it to Him. He took on flesh, became a man, and died on a
cross because He thought we were worth stopping everything for. So, I’m going to try and remember to share
that not just with my words but with my actions. Because there really is nothing more
important.
