This Morning
Christmas Eve
This morning,
the Spirit of the Lord cries out in us, “Abba, Father!” Can you hear him? He tells us that we are no longer slaves but sons and daughters. This Christmas Eve, we pause to be amazed at a God who draws near. We are no longer lost but found in Him and all of these images of the nativity, the shepherds bowing down in front of the Christ child, placed carefully on our living room shelf, actually mean something more than we can fully describe.
The shepherds go to him to worship. He comes to us and we cry out “Daddy” – to a God who draws close. And this knowing, of an adoption, a miraculous inclusion into his family, fills us with joy.
This morning,
with a fire in the fireplace, I sit with my coffee and push aside the gifts still to be wrapped, the food to prepare, and the Christmas Eve service to get ready for and I ponder it all. Can I hear him as my family sleeps upstairs, in the quiet of this expectant morning? The Spirit living in me is crying out “Father!” This repetition never stops. Am I even aware of it? While my mind races, my heart is taken over with the Spirit’s voice calling to the Father, on this Christmas Eve. Do I think for a minute that the Father doesn’t respond to the Spirit’s call within me? No. He answers every time, by moving closer and closer to the sound of the Spirit’s voice, to that call deep within me that asks to be near.
This morning,
as we rush and wrap and fix, the Spirit continues to call out:
“Be near! Hold me close!”
Shh! Let’s listen.
.