Making Lists

Christmas is the season for lists, isn't it?  Children make lists of things they want to get.  Santa makes a list and checks it twice.  People in general make lists and hope to check something off of it.  Even my husband Dan makes a list.  It was funny to see his list the other day.  It is a super ambitious one.  I particularly laughed at the last item:  "relax and spend time with family."  I teased him when I read that line:  "yeah, I know...that's exactly where we rank in the list of your priorities: dead last!"  He teased me back saying:  "notice it says 'with family' I have yet to find what family."  (He always has to have one up on me...but that's a topic for another entry.)

Anyway...after I was done making fun of Dan's list, I realized something...I don't have that line item in mine...anywhere...not even dead last...sigh...

I've been pondering how to make this Christmas about what really matters, and I haven't even given my family a line in my list...

I want to justify myself by saying stuff like: "well, they don't need to be in my paper list because they are in my heart list, written in blood, alive with every beat and every breath..." but, are they?  Am I truly making My Lord and the people He has entrusted me with, my priority in life?  Or am I making the things of life the lord of my priorities?

Once again, I turn my head from where I'm sitting and I see my nativity.  There's Mary, with that expectant and adoring look in her face.  I see Joseph, hanging on to his staff, kneeling down.  I see the shepherds, filled with awe and wonder.  And I think about the one thing they all had in common:  they trusted God's Word.

Mary, against all odds and against society and tradition trusted that God would take care of her and said yes to being the Mother of the Word Incarnate.  Joseph, against the same odds, society and traditions trusted the truth of the message he received and said yes to being the adoptive Father of Jesus.  The shepherds, against the loneliness of a profession that deemed them uncleaned and outcast among their own people, trusted God's call given to them through the angels and became the court of honor that received the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  They had nothing...and they had it all.

Am I trusting God enough to leave behind the things of this world and ask just for Jesus?  Am I trusting God enough to follow His path and forget about my idea of what life should look like?  Am I trusting God enough to say yes and put Him on the top of my list not just during Christmas, but all the days of my life?

I pray that today, as I get busy cooking and wrapping presents, I remember the reason I do all that I do.  I pray that the Holy Spirit will inspire me to keep an attitude of praise and thanksgiving every second of the Christmas season that is left, and that the same attitude may endure in my heart as I make new lists for as long as God keeps me on this shore.  In Christ Name.  Amen!