I find the first of the year difficult. It is a time where we make all kinds of choices that will make a difference in how we look, feel and who we serve. The worldly focus is usual on self. Am I exercised enough, rich enough, disciplined enough.
Notice the 'I's.
One way to really get into trouble in our walk is to think IT ALL DEPENDS ON US.
Back to the Christmas story, after Christmas.
Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus have to wait until it is time to go up to Jerusalem for the offering.
They have two rather strange characters one an old man and one an old woman confirm that Jesus is the redemption of Israel.
The wise men come to Jerusalem, not Bethlehem. Gifts are given and then they depart another way home.
The taxes are paid, the baby is circumcised according to the law.
Still the young couple lingers..waiting not on what they want but on what God’s plan is for them.
It certainly isn’t what they thought. Joseph has a dream in which he is told to “flee” to Egypt because Herod is going to try to kill the baby.
What if they had not waited and listened to God? I wonder if God looks down at times and thinks ... if only they had waited for me instead of making their own choices.
Waiting isn’t easy. It is lonely, hard work and sometime we feel “lost”. Never mind. God never will lose his sheep. He knows where we are heading. We don’t.
May January find you waiting for your marching orders ... not your own but the Lord’s.
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