My husband and I were zooming through Walmart on a mission to gather a few things before our daughter, Laura, came home from cheerleading practice. We divided the list with the plan to gather our items and meet at the registers. I was making good progress, humming along with the music playing over the PA system when I stopped dead in my tracks. Christmas music- they were playing Christmas music in the store. We still hadn’t thrown our pumpkins away or even begun to plan out a menu for Thanksgiving and they were playing Christmas music. I finally snapped out of it and continued gathering my things and met my husband at the register.
Throughout the evening, I pondered the question: “Why do we tend to rush Christmas?” I felt the Lord say to me, “Why do you rush Me? Why don’t you anticipate Me?” Wow! Don’t you just love when you get all high and mighty with your profound thoughts and then the Lord just comes along and throws it right back in your lap, causing you to go down hard?! Well, I hit the floor with a thud.
I realized I do rush the Lord. In fact, we are all guilty of rushing Jesus, not just at Christmas, but all through the year. We go to Him in prayer and tell Him our hurts and pains and then, as any typical woman would do, we tell Him how to fix it. When He doesn’t do what we want when we want, we rush Him. We whine and we complain that things aren’t happening fast enough. Sometimes, we even cry out, “How long, Lord?”
I want to make a conscious effort to anticipate Jesus, not rush Him…not just during Christmas but throughout the year. It won’t be easy, but I know with His help, I will make progress. Will you join me?