Peace from Producing

Advent is a season to wait for a promise fulfilled.  To wait and see the Lord do what He promised. Our contribution is prayerful and expectant hearts.

Then why does my heart feel the need to produce instead of wait.  I enter the season more often than not with a low grade anxiousness.  A need to produce and manufacture the perfect Holiday season. A quiet moment comes with dread that we are missing out on the picture perfect Christmas moment.  A fear that I did not do enough.

Never enough cookies made, or hot chocolate sipped.  Not enough Christmas movies watched, or parties attended.  Elf on the shelf did not make it this year, and St. Nicholas missed our home on the 6th.  Our jammies don’t match and our stockings aren’t full. We finally did see Santa, and my kid was grumpy.  (When Santa asked what He wanted for Christmas, he said milk…) But our pups do not have pictures with Santa.  Please don’t even ask about presents.  

Whose job is it to create these picture perfect moments?  How do you arrange your calendar to align with good moods and nap times?  Oh yea, that’s my job.  

Produce and plan, wrap and organize.  Isn’t that what Christmas is all about?

No, this season is about what we could not do.  Is actually highlights all the ways we were trying to produce a perfect salvation experience.  Through rules and lows and celebrations and festivals and cleansings and sacrifices.

In one breath, Jesus breathed rest into our souls.  An invitation to stop. To stop performing and producing.  To stop striving. To stop the rules and the acts and the accomplishing in one generous moment. He entered our world, ushering in a reprieve from producing.

He brought grace.  And He brought everything He needed to make it happen.  He asked us to contribute nothing. Just that we sit at the table with Him.  And accept His gift of salvation. It was not a gift exchange.

So if you are feeling the pressure to create this season, sit back and accept what is being offered.  Rest. Freedom.  

A chance to taste and see that the Lord is good.  A chance for the weary world to rejoice.