This last week I’ve moved my office at the hospital and it is amazing to me how “clutter” seems to follow me in all areas of my life! I am pledging today to go through papers and miscellaneous, and toss what can be tossed and organize what can be organized! I realize that those items can stay in their box; however, because I’d rather follow the “WIN” formula in my life: What’s Important Now! I need to visit with our patients, the Emergency Room, one of the staff has a heavy personal load, and there is orientation for new employees. When those priorities are complete I can figure out how to unpack the new office.
We enter now the last couple days of Advent (waiting on the birth of Christ in our lives) and Christmas. What once seemed so far away has now come up close and personal! The stores will be full, the advertising will be everywhere, and we are pulled again and again into the fray. I ask you to think about “what is important now” this week of Christmas. It’s not about the gifts we buy for ourselves and those we love, it’s not about finding the sale items, going to office parties, or gathering with friends and family.
It’s about Jesus. It is not “our” birthday, but the birth of Christ. Think about what that night was like so long ago. Enter into the story found richly described in the Gospel of Luke chapter 2: 1-20. It was a silent, quiet night. There was no place for them to stay, so they lay Jesus in a manger. God’s child was placed in a manger, a feeding trough as a symbol that Jesus would be bread/food for the world. For all of us. What’s Important Now, and this week? Sit quietly, pray, be mindful of where you are in the moment and how you are feeling. Put away the press and stress of the world, and enter into the Mystery, the Peace, the Grace, and the Love of God in Christ Jesus. Really, the rest of it is all tinsel, it’s all clutter.
May you and yours have a Blessed Christmas and New Year!
Pr. Doug
St. Vincent Clay Chaplain
SD thoughts for the week will continue January 5th, 2015
Eric is our current Webmaster and works on the NLS Communications Team. Raised in Judaism, he found Christ and the New Testament at age 16 in a Southern Baptist Church. He searched many denominations for the real church, only to find the Holy Spirit is present in all of them. He's worked for One for Israel, a group of native Israeli believers who are sharing the gospel in the holy land in Hebrew and is part of the only Hebrew speaking seminary in Israel.
