Don't Panic....

"Don't Panic. It's the first helpful or intelligible thing anybody's said to me all day." - Arthur Dent to Ford Prefect, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Today is December 20th, only five days til Christmas.  Advertisers everywhere are attempting to inspire panic among those of us who are not yet finished with our preparations for the BIG DAY.  Will you allow me to interject a note of calm, as we hurtle through time toward December 25th?   Everything is going to be fine.  It really is.

Let me share a little story with you.  Go back with me to December 22nd, 1986.  Gene and I were expecting our first child, due on January 14th. We had managed to decorate our little tree, but there we were, just three days before Christmas, and not a single gift had been purchased!  I wasn't intentionally putting off Christmas shopping. I had been on doctor-ordered bed rest, thanks to pre-term labor that began in my thirtieth week.  I would reach the "full-term" benchmark (37 weeks) on December 24th, when I would require no more bed rest or medication.  So we decided we would shop then.  We didn't have many gifts to buy, we reasoned, and we could stay up late and wrap them in time for Christmas Day.  There was only one problem with our brilliant plan: no one told our baby boy.

In the wee hours of December 23rd, we rushed to the hospital in labor. And at 2:05 that afternoon, the most beautiful little boy I had ever seen made his entrance into the world, changing our lives forever.  We didn't do our shopping on December 24th.  Christmas Day arrived without a single present under our tree.  I didn't bring the pie to dinner.  But no one minded, because I did bring home our firstborn son, who brought great joy to everyone. 


There is another Firstborn Son, who brings great joy to all people of the Earth. The presents, the preparation, the pies...don't let those things become the main thing this Christmas.  As you celebrate the birth of the Baby of Bethlehem, may all the things you don't get done fade from view in the light of His glory. 

Today's verse: "Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done." Phil 4:6 NLT

Prayer for Today:  Father, please keep me focused on what really matters this Christmas.  Help me simplify my plans, so I have time to truly celebrate the Reason for the Season. In Jesus' name, Amen.