Busy

So I didn’t write a blog until today because I have been busy. No really I have. Carol services, extra time at the hospital because people are unwell, planning for the next services, putting the church back to rights after various activities. It all adds up and time disappears. Last night it dawned on me that although I’ve bought some gifts to give, I haven’t left myself any time t wrap them. Especially now I’m doing extra shifts at the hospital to cover for those who can’t make it in. It’s all good stuff, all important things to do, but they all take time. And then I remembered I hadn’t written a blog this week. So now I’m squeezing this into the small window between being out this morning and doing a visit this afternoon. Still have no idea when I might wrap presents! If I’m not careful I’ll miss Christmas. And I’ll miss it because I’m busy! Which it sees to me is what some people do. They miss Christmas because they are busy. They are busy thinking of all the things they have to do, and then doing them, that they have no time for the thing itself. I have a feeling that that’s what happened on the night of the first Christmas too. The Jews were waiting for the Messiah. They knew he was coming. They desperately wanted him to come. But they were so busy thinking about it, they missed it when it happened. It didn’t help they had the wrong idea about what the Messiah would look like and what he’d do, but they missed him anyway. It didn’t help that when they saw him they decided he didn’t fit their expectations, but they still missed him. Even when he was there right in front of them, they missed it. And I maybe guilty of the very same thing. I get busy. I have thoughts about how Christmas will look and the things I need to do. And if I’m not careful, I miss it. It is a sobering thought that even though he’s right here in front of me, I can still miss him. Even though he’s in all the carols I sing, all the readings I hear, all the talks I prepare…I can still miss him because I’m too busy. God wasn’t too busy to make the first Christmas a reality. And God isn’t too busy to come to me now. He isn’t too busy to draw close and be in all the carols, the readings and the talks. He isn’t too busy to welcome me when I come to him. Maybe that’s the good news of Christmas this year: in the business, God isn’t too busy to come to me again and welcome me into his great and magnificent love. And I don’t want to miss that. Not for anything.