Your busy, fast moving, non-stop life and find a place of stillness

The week leading up to Christmas is always one of panic, whirling thoughts and little rest. My children are tired, my better half is grumpy and my heart-rate is high. This is the week of the sudden realisation of something you forgot to buy or someone you forgot to contact. Thinking I was on the ball, I ordered some presents at the beginning of December which still haven’t arrived😬. I dread getting everything out of the cupboard to wrap and discovering I bought more for one child than the other. And the dinner? Let’s not talk about that.

There is a song by Michael Card that says, ‘Come to the cradle, come and find peace’. Surely Christmas was not meant to be the materialistic, pressured race it has sadly become. The quaint Little Women tradition of making few gifts and giving up what’s left to the poor is a fictional pipe dream now.

I doubt I will ever say this again, but being forced by bad health to stop has become more of a gift than I ever realised. It doesn’t solve the panic though. When my mind races at night, I try to visualise still water or sing a quiet song to my flurry of thoughts.

The best way to think about Christmas is to step out of the craziness and contemplate the Cradle, the sleeping image of God Himself. Not the God who we want to fix things or stop suffering, but the Son who calls Himself ‘Prince of Peace’.

Do you think you could set aside your stress and sit down to contemplate that Peace? That is my prayer for you this Christmas.