![]() God is also not found in the large and dazzling, but the small and overlooked. Listen to what the prophet Micah says about Bethlehem, the birthplace of the Savior: God is found in the ordinary, the ordinary moments of everyday life: a simple greeting, an infant moving in the womb, and a visit between two cousins. We strive for the extraordinary, miss the mark, and end up predictably disappointed. Society says all of these are needed to create the perfect family, celebrate the perfect Christmas, and find perfect happiness. The perfect appetizer, the perfect gift, the perfect table setting, and the perfect tree. Society today urges us to make Christmas fabulous, magnificent, glorious, and perfect. We leave the present moment behind and frantically search for something bigger, more impressive, or more dazzling What are some reasons we miss the moment of God’s revelation to us? Like the boys at the Biltmore House, we convince ourselves that the extraordinary is not in the room we are in, but be somewhere else. She realized that her infant son was leaping for joy before his Lord, just as King David leaped for joy before the ark of the covenant. At that moment, she was open to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Instead, she saw the extraordinary hand of God at work in this ordinary movement of the infant. Elizabeth could have ignored the movement and simply invited Mary in. Many women who are in their sixth month of pregnancy often feel the infant leaping in their womb. When Mary greeted Elizabeth, the infant leaped in her womb. When the angel Gabriel told Mary that she was going to conceive a child, Mary went in haste to visit her cousin Elizabeth. More importantly, don’t miss the significance of the moment.Įlizabeth provides a good example of being mindful of the significance of the moment. As we enter this Christmas week, don’t miss the moment. God speaks to us in the ‘what is here and now’, the present moment. God does not speak to us in the ‘what was before’. God does not speak to us in the ‘what is next’. Even worse, when Christmas arrives, we sometimes miss the significance of the moment that matters the most – the entrance of Jesus into our lives – because we’re too exhausted, distracted, or disappointed from our efforts. ![]() ![]() What is the next present I need to wrap? The next place I need to go? The next bit of décor I need add? We spend little time pondering what is here and now. Too often we go through life with the same breathless pace, especially a few days before Christmas. ![]() They missed the moment that mattered the most. In their haste to see what is next, they missed what is here and now. I felt a little breathless after the tour. They cared more about what is next, not what is here. The boys would enter a room, look around furtively, and then at the first opportunity, race to the next room. With boys that age, however, I had no time to ponder the impressive decorations in each room. I was assigned a group of six boys to chaperone, including my son. In the months before Christmas, they decorate the rooms with poinsettias, Christmas trees, and a huge variety of elaborate Christmas decorations. The Biltmore House is a mansion in Asheville with over two hundred rooms. Several years ago, I went to the Biltmore House on a field trip with students in the fifth grade.
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