As we bustle around wrapping up different loose ends before the end of the year, there is a sort of hush in the offices. Some staff members are away with families already. To paraphrase the movie quote from The Fellowship of the Ring, “One does not simply fly to the US of A with your family“. You grab the cheap tickets when they come available and you go when the ticket dates are the most affordable.
In the hustle and bustle, as people stateside begin decorating and shopping (It is this blogger´s policy that it is not acceptable to embrace the cheer of the season until the 1st of December), there is a sense of hurry and a general sense of heightened emotions surrounding this time of the year. We have been, several times this month alone, reminded here at IMM that Jesus is not the God of hurry. One sermon talked about the Hebrews as they were rebuilding the wall one person held a weapon and another person a tool for the rebuild, their productivity was cut in half. And yet even then God blessed them, and they built the wall in like 52 days. In another devotional this week, Jesus was described in one word – RELAXED. Now that is not the first word I would have used, but as I reflected on it more, it began to make more sense. Jesus was never in a hurry. He made time for friends and family. He worked, ate meals with them, shared in the day to day conversations, interruptions, hunger, and always made time for the people around Him. Now some of you reading this may be wondering how this may relate to missions and Christmas, bear with me.
In missions, we are always pressed with the urgency of the mission.
The idea that there is not a pressing need to spread the Gospel as fast as we can, is not what I am writing about. It is the empathy and compassion we misplace in our daily lives as we rush out the door in the morning, grab a coffee (but use the drive-through because no one has time for actually sitting and enjoying the coffee, so make sure it is extra-strength-loaded-with-sugar-sugar-because-I-have-to-get-through-the-day-and-half-the-night cup of coffee), work, school, maybe another coffee run, after-school programs, sports, grocery runs, get home for homework, make dinner, yelling, crying, kids, teens, spouse, maybe bed, but most likely a few episodes of something just to de-fragment from the day.
How many of you felt anxiety just reading that long, run-on sentence?
In the common household scenario above, where was the time for God? Where does devotions and quality, relaxed time with Jesus come in? How often do we get so busy that we push God to the margins of our time and eventually our lives? I can tell you as a missionary, someone who is supposed to be this super-spiritual leader…I fight with this daily. I often replace God with the HURRY of the day. HURRY then becomes my god. I have less patience for those around me, tailgating becomes a thing, road rage, and I give up peace, hope, and love. How is that living a life for Christ? How much better at loving God and loving your neighbor would you be if you cut your product-activity in half and RELAXED? “Pipe dreams!” “Fantasy!” “You do not know my life!” These are all things I can imagine you might think or say out loud as you read this, however, take a moment to sit with this and really mull it over.
While you sit with that thought, here is a workout concept.
As I trained in bodybuilding as a much younger man, I went to an old-school gym that had the idea that you come three times a week for a couple of hours and leave it all on the gym floor. Several times I worked out so hard, I literally left all of my breakfast on the gym floor. Anyway, I would push 100% and then have to take a day to recover. It works, but I recently learned of a concept that deals with giving 70%. The idea is that if I train at 70% for 5 days a week, I will achieve better results over time with less risk of injury, than pushing it to the max and having to take a day or two to recover. Also, I tend to have more energy and desire to return to the gym the next day. Believe what you will, some of you “gym rats“ will say something like “Well, that is why you work muscle groups on different days“ or have a bunch of other counter-arguments, but that is not the point.
Often times in life we push 100% for so long, and then we forget how to turn off. We do not get the rest we need to re-coup. We may go on a vacation and it takes a week or more just to decompress from life before we are even human enough to enjoy the vacation. For most of us by that time that happens, vacation is over, and it is back to the grind. What would your life look like if you gave 70%? What would change? How much time would you gain? How relaxed would you be? “But my job will not let me give 70%!” Maybe, or maybe you are just used to giving 100% at work, so what is left for God and family?
You may be asking, “What in all of this has to do with Christmas?”
Fair point, here is my attempt to wrap this gift with a bow for you. I propose that as we get together with our families and friends, we are in so much of a hurry to get to that point that we are not relaxed while it is happening. Food could burn. Cell phones are out. And does one really want to hear about all of auntie´s 15 Chihuahuas…again? Next thing you know, everyone is smiling for the family photo, but there has been at least one family fight, uncle is never coming back, and cousin is crying. Family at the holidays is never easy, but how much better would it be if we all were more relaxed during the year and had more capacity to deal with the absurdities of family life at the holidays? How much better at missions would you be if you took the time to sit with someone and do life with them? I believe that like in our finances, where God commands you to test Him with giving back to Him 10%, that the same principle could be held for your time as well.
Here is a Christmas experiment…
Dial back the HURRY by 10%, use that time to simply RELAX and BE!
Relax and be with God. Relax and be with your family. As God opens more avenues of blessings, take back more time from your HURRY god and maybe the JOY of the season will last longer – even when the bills come due in January. Oops! I could do another 1.000 words on not going broke for Christmas, but that is for another time.
Until then, thank you for your support, and from our IMM families to yours…
RELAX and MERRY CHRISTMAS!
