City Girl, Country Home: Finding Jesus in the Flurry

"I’m participating in the Keeping Christ in Christmas Blog Carnival, hosted by Raising (& Teaching) Little Saints, Truly Rich Mom and Arma Dei: Equipping Catholic Families. We'll be sharing different ways, tips, stories and real-life experiences that will help us focus on Jesus as the Reason for the Christmas season. Please scroll down to the end of the post to see the list of carnival entries.”

Just came home from dinner with my Bible cell group, and we shared about our Christmas reflections. In the midst of cute stuffed Santas hovering over the lamps and the aroma of Japanese food in the air, I shared how important it is to deliberately find Jesus in all the busyness and distractions of this season. Especially at this time when the darkness seems to be magnified due to current events (read: death toll rising due to Typhoon Pablo here in the Philippines; the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting incident in the US), all the more reason for us to shine the light of Jesus to bring hope to this world.

O holy night

The stars are brightly shining

It is the night of our dear Savior's birth...

A thrill of hope

The weary world rejoices

For yonder breaks

A new and glorious morn

— from the song “O Holy Night”

We can’t just fall victim to our circumstances, I shared, with layers of distractions and burdens covering the true meaning of Christmas. We can’t allow the evil one to steal our joy and we can’t simply resign ourselves to grapple through these few days leading to Christmas. If we think we’ve somehow already missed the Christmas spirit, we can ask the Lord to redeem the time that we think was messed up. But we must celebrate now, at this moment, for it’s Jesus’ birthday. It’s all about Him. We need to look for that quiet place within us, even in the chaos surrounding us. And even in all that we see, we can find Jesus.

We walked out of the restaurant and one among us mentioned how beautiful the decorations of the mall were. I looked up to see floor upon floor adorned with red ornaments and Christmas lights. Such a festive sight! This just reminded me again of the Light of the World — He it is who brings us hope.

There is still time to find Jesus in the flurry. But maybe it only takes a few minutes of quiet in your heart and a sincere desire to seek the Christ of Christmas.

Jesus, everything is so busy around me. I quiet my heart right now. Please let me know You are near. And grant me Your peace. Amen.

For more inspiration regarding Christmas, check out these other posts:

Don't Miss a Thing this Christmas!

What Christmas Rush?

Wide-eyed Wonder

The "Frugirl's" Guide to Christmas Decorating

Here are the links to the other blog carnival participants. I hope you'll take the time to visit them and leave a comment on their posts! :) The list will be updated throughout the day, so please do come back and check on them. God bless us all!

8 comments:

Mariel @ The Learning BasketDecember 20, 2012 at 8:50 PM
Love your post's title! We really do need to disengage from the Christmas being peddled to us and "find Jesus in the flurry."
Nancy ShumanDecember 21, 2012 at 4:49 AM
This is wonderful. Absolutely wonderful.
Martine | WAHM, Wife, Blogging Belle.December 21, 2012 at 11:09 PM
I love this reflection, Mich! I am reminded of what I took up in Catholic World History before: When Jesus came into the world during that first Christmas, he came amidst the busyness of the census. However, it was during a point in history when the nation of Israel was at peace; there was no war. To me, it's a great example of how Christ comes to really bring PEACE to our chaos. Imagine that: When He was born into this world, there really was reason for us to experience "heavenly peace," as the Silent Night carol goes.

This year, I'm glad Christmas has been peaceful, and filled with many moments of blessing. It's unlike Christmases before, and I am very grateful to God for that.

Love this blog series, too!
UnknownDecember 31, 2012 at 12:36 AM
Hi Mich! :) So sorry for the late comment. Thank you SO much for joining the carnival! :) I LOVED reading your post — it's a wonderful reminder of how to truly keep focused on Jesus during what others consider a crazy, "commercialized" season, and of not losing hope even when it seems that there's so much hopelessness in our world. I love the idea of finding Jesus in the flurry! :) Thank you for the reminder of how to keep Christ in Christmas! :) God bless always!
UnknownDecember 31, 2012 at 10:59 AM
Hi Tina! No need for apologies! Thanks to you for organizing this blog carnival; am just happy to be a part of it! May your New Year and the rest of your Christmas season be Jesus-filled! Blessings!

City Girl, Country Home

Passage

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Finding Jesus in the Flurry

8 comments: