"'And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.' And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:
'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased.'"
~Luke 2:12-14
~Luke 2:12-14
One of my biggest struggles is living in the now. I'm constantly thinking about what I should have done in the past or what my future will look like. Jim Elliot said "Let not our longing slay the appetite of our living." These are good words for busy bodies like me. When I think about the moments where I was fully present and fully engaged in what was happening right then, whether good or bad, I recall moments of genuine rest. There's peace in knowing that the God of my past and the Sovereign Lord of my future desires for me to be right where he has me in this season. He wants us to learn today's lessons and not for us to be hindered by worries of the future.
Ann Voskamp's One Thousand Gifts, A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are provides a good illustration of this truth. She welcomes her readers to find the joy(s) in the present, even if that landscape happens to be one of great loneliness and pain. She writes:
"Without trust in the good news of Jesus, without trust in the good news of God's saving work even in this moment, without an active, moment-by-moment trust in the good news of an all-sovereign, all-good God, how can we claim to fully believe? This is the trust I lack: to know that if disaster strikes, He carries me even there. Trust in the wholeness of the gospel -- including this moment, good news too -- and be saved. Choose stress, worry, anxiety, reject what God has given now, which is good news too -- refuse to trust -- and be condemned."
And what better time to start trusting Him with our now than at Christmastime -- the time in which Christ left perfection, unencumbered by the bounds of time or sin to live out 33 years of human moments and then horrible death so that we could know eternity.
As I seek to live in the moments of life this Christmas and throughout this new year upon us, I invite you to do the same. May you live fully, as one who is wide awake.
