If you hurry, you can get it all done. Order gifts online. Haul decorations from the attic. Set up the tree.

If you waste no time, you can get the oil changed, make up the guest bed, and clean the house. Plan the Birthday Party for Jesus.

If you’re quick, you can make it to your spouse’s Office Party and sing carols at the assisted living home on the same night. Wrap the early gifts.

If you plan it right, you can pay the monthly bills, bake the pies, and drop off gifts. Shop for holiday groceries. Who needs to sleep?

If you stay on top of it, you can sprint through the final weekend. Pick up gift cards for people you forgot. Send late Christmas cards. Prepare Christmas dinner. Wrap the remaining gifts. Rush to relax on Christmas Eve.

Ahhh, “the holidays.” Holy days.

Advent Season is a reminder to us that God initiated the relationship with us. He came to us.

Jesus knew that if He didn’t come to us, we would have been too busy to notice Him. The plan of
redemption took on humanity that Christmas morn.

“Behold the virgin shall be with child, and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name
Immanuel,” which translated means, “God with us.”
Matthew 1:23

Immanuel. God with us.

Schedules packed with good and urgent things are hard to change. Jesus is present in all of it.

May you pray through your schedule to redeem holiness in the hurriedness. May you address everyone with a smile—the people Jesus puts in your path, the people with whom you gather, and the people who come to visit. In this season of presents, may you take a deep breath and give thanks for God’s presence in Jesus Christ.

Love and blessings,

Dave