Christmas Reflection: God in the Backseat

 I've been reading a lot the last few months. Studying. Listening. Praying.

With Christmas literally just days away from us, it just feels different this year. I feel like I have so immersed myself in learning and understanding and studying God's Word that I feel a different kind of peace this Christmas than I have in the past. Is peace the right word? Maybe.

Peace. Joy. Hope. Love.

I've been reading a book by Tim Keller called Hidden Christmas. I've also been doing an Advent study since the middle of November courtesy of Proverbs 31 Ministries. In all the business that can muddy up the holiday season.....I don't think I've ever felt closer to God.

And those words sting a bit.

Shouldn't I feel close to God all the time? Don't I have to coming down from a major crisis to really feel His presence? We let ourselves believe that sometimes. I think that's often the expectation.

I know that God loves me. That I was created in His image. I know He sent His Son, who loved me so much that He was willing to suffer a horrible and agonizing death to see my sin slate wiped clean. 

I truly believe that.....but I think somewhere in the busy of life, I let it take a backseat to everything else. Single mother. Full-time working mom. Kids actively involved in church activities, school and extracurricular activities. Teaching Sunday School. Homework assistant. Paying bills. Grocery shopping. Family time. 

Doesn't all of that sound so ordinary? As ordinary as a humble birth of a tiny babe in a lowly manger in a stable in Bethlehem to two parents who had very little to give someone who, as a man, would ultimately give His life for them and the rest of the world.

He came back then as a baby who would walk with His disciples. He taught. He healed. He ate with the town rejects. He touched people and changed lives.

And He walks with me today in all my ordinary. He has touched me and changed my life.

Yet somehow I forgot in all the hurry and busy to slow down and make room for Him. Always. Every day. 

I think this dawned on my Thursday night in our city-wide scavenger hunt. The kids may have been squabbling with their cousin in the back seat of my SUV, but with each clue that was received and completed I wanted more. 

I've just finished the book by Tim Keller. My Advent study will be finished on Christmas Eve. 

I want more.

I want to continue to feel this fire for God. I want to continue to relish in the peace, joy, hope and love that are so important during the Advent season but wait----

God provides them every single day. 

His Word tells us all of these things!!!!!

I'm not one for setting New Year's resolutions. I never keep them and sometimes the ones I do make are unrealistic. The last few years I've made a list of small, simple goals for myself that seem to work out better than a resolution. That way if they aren't accomplished goals that year then I can just carry them over to the following year.

But I've decided that I just want more.

I want more of God. I want to prioritize more of Him and less of the ordinary and busy. 

I want to read more scripture.

I want to pray more.

I want to listen for Him more.

I want to do more Bible studies.

I want to worship more.

I want to give more.

I want to love more.

I want to serve more.

I want to share more. 

I want everything else to take the backseat this time. 

I want this Christmas and every Christmas after this to be a constant reminder that God doesn't deserve the backseat. He loves us infinitely more than we could ever begin to imagine.....and a God who loves me that much deserves more.