Are You Ready For Christmas?
"Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord." Luke 2:10b-11
Every year I find myself in a rush to accomplish all that I need to do for our family Christmas celebration. It usually starts early in the year so that by early December I have all of my shopping done. This year was different. I left my job in August and things have been tight. I decided to do something different this year. I would sew some of my gifts. I started in early November by pulling out my 3 year old sewing machine only to learn that the power cord/foot was missing and I needed to order a new one from the company. It was back within a week which was great. I'm still working on projects and hope to be done by Thursday or Friday when we celebrate with the grandchildren.
One of the things that I used to do at Christmas time was to help my mother in her Christmas cookie business. How this woman was able to make over 2,000 dozen cookes and over 200 loaves of nutbread and many pounds of fudge, in addition to a full time job, I have no idea. We were always trying to make our deadline to have the last cookie delivered by Christmas Eve. One year it was my job to finish deliveries while my mom left to visit my siblings out of state. I received a call from one of our patrons and I scrambled to make the delivery.
There were many people who missed the first Christmas: King Herod, the innkeeper and the many other citizens of Bethlehem who were in town for the census. Each one was busy with what they felt was most important and today, many of us still miss what's most vital. We often get caught up in the parties and the shopping and the other things that distract. It's not too late. We still have time to put the Urgent in place.
"Dear Lord,
So often I fail in seeing the big picture. It's not the things I do but who I am that matters. Help me to keep that in mind.
Amen"
copyright Kathy E. Eberly December 16, 2011
Every year I find myself in a rush to accomplish all that I need to do for our family Christmas celebration. It usually starts early in the year so that by early December I have all of my shopping done. This year was different. I left my job in August and things have been tight. I decided to do something different this year. I would sew some of my gifts. I started in early November by pulling out my 3 year old sewing machine only to learn that the power cord/foot was missing and I needed to order a new one from the company. It was back within a week which was great. I'm still working on projects and hope to be done by Thursday or Friday when we celebrate with the grandchildren.
One of the things that I used to do at Christmas time was to help my mother in her Christmas cookie business. How this woman was able to make over 2,000 dozen cookes and over 200 loaves of nutbread and many pounds of fudge, in addition to a full time job, I have no idea. We were always trying to make our deadline to have the last cookie delivered by Christmas Eve. One year it was my job to finish deliveries while my mom left to visit my siblings out of state. I received a call from one of our patrons and I scrambled to make the delivery.
There were many people who missed the first Christmas: King Herod, the innkeeper and the many other citizens of Bethlehem who were in town for the census. Each one was busy with what they felt was most important and today, many of us still miss what's most vital. We often get caught up in the parties and the shopping and the other things that distract. It's not too late. We still have time to put the Urgent in place.
"Dear Lord,
So often I fail in seeing the big picture. It's not the things I do but who I am that matters. Help me to keep that in mind.
Amen"
copyright Kathy E. Eberly December 16, 2011
What steps do you take to stop the "Tyranny of the Urgent" and put those things aside to do what is most important?
ReplyDeleteGood question. Sometimes it is just a matter of saying no to extra things. This is pretty hard though in ministry. For me, I really have had to step away from things that I may have enjoyed but I felt that they were actually taking time away from what I needed to do at home.
ReplyDelete