When God Interrupts

How did your Thanksgiving Holiday go?  Was it the way you planned or was there interruptions at every turn.  I had planned for weeks, planting flowers, cleaning, cooking, getting beds ready, planning for Thanksgiving and a day after celebration.  We all were excited that it was the first time in a couple of years that we would be together, all the children.  I had my plan taken to heart and was so excited then my husband got sick and then I got the flu.  My calendar stopped and I fell to the bed and doctor which interrupted several days I had laid out to be ready right on time when everyone arrived.  I thought to myself.  What do you do when God interrupts the plans you have made.  What was to keep me from giving up, going to bed and getting depressed.  I began to ask for help and take on step in front of the other.  I ask myself...Do you make a daily plan?  Are you planning for Christmas?  Is it under the direction and guidance from the Lord?  Do you hold your plans loosely.  Do you say I will do such and such if the Lord wills it so?

My family took over and we had a wonderful Thanksgiving and all of us were well.  Now the days have crept by as they all have gone.  I miss the all night talks and the laughs.  The sitting on the porch in the cold all bundled up.  Special food, hugs given, reminiscing and story telling.  Thinking of the kiddos in Texas and looking at pictures.  Listening to music, the guys hunting and bringing home their find.  I miss it all.  How to I pick up again and began to plan for Christmas and the coming of our Lord celebration.  The thinking of others and extending gifts of meaning and thought.

 I don't think I will make the plans this year like I did for Thanksgiving. I held tight to the way I thought things should go.  When I let it all go and looked to Jesus in expectancy it was better than I could have imagined or planned in my own strength.   I think I might consider, talk to the others, make my plans loosely.  I want to remember the real reason for the season.  Celebrate advent and wonder what it was like riding on a donkey to give birth to our King.  I want to know how I can be a blessing daily to others that will be a reminder of the Love of God for them in sending His Son to rescue us unto eternal life.  I want to hear the music of the gospel and the birth of Jesus again, afresh and new.  I want to capture the meaning that Jesus has given us all in His birth.  It is my prayer now God. I rest in your hands and see how you will bring it about.  For your glory.

2,000 years ago God interrupted and He will do it again today.  How will we respond?  Will we be ready, looking for Him to show up in our day to day lives. Or will we be depressed and angry things are not in our control and come about as we hope?  We sell ourselves so short in the magnificence and power of our Lord.  He is creative and imaginative and is beyond us and our limited mind and ability. Will we be looking for those He brings into our midst to bless and love beyond what we can do.  I am not talking about loving those who are easy to love but those unlike you.  Those that are hard to love, the unloveable.  The lady at the supermarket who has been there sense 4 am.  The mom waiting in line with 4 kids with no idea how she can get the groceries to the car.  Those ringing the bell.  The ones on the streets we can give a meal to.  Remembering them in our giving.  Prayers for those with no family and nothing but heartache to remember.  Our own family and mates.  Sometimes they are the hardest one to accept without criticism and judgmental attitudes. Even the Pharisee loves those like him.   Can we accept how God will interrupt this year and how we can give others Jesus?  Instead of looking at our days as a failure can we look expectantly at what God will do?  Is He willing to give us another surprise in the gift of His Son again this Christmas?  We will have to spend time in His presence, feasting on His word and receiving His love to be able to then give it away.  Are we willing to get out of our comfort zone and control and risk to be surprised by Grace and Jesus in the most profound way beyond anything we might plan.