Going with haste to see the Lord

Happy New Year!

Somehow this morning finds me up early, with a quiet house, and some time to reflect on the year ahead.  Now that is a gift!

A lot of my hopes for 2014 can be summed up in a verse that struck me at Christmas:

"And they went with haste, and found Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger." (Luke 2:16)

They went with haste ... they hurried ... to see Jesus.

I often hurry.  But not usually with such a noble ambition in mind.

Here is someone who knows how to enter into the moment
with a child: Great-Grandma playing Play-Dough with Nicholas.

There is a sentence in Ann Voskamp's book "One Thousand Gifts" about hurrying that at times reflects my life only too well: "I cannot think of a single advantage I've ever gained from being in a hurry. But a thousand broken and missed things, tens of thousands, lie in the wake of all the rushing.... Through all that haste I thought I was making up time. It turns out I was throwing it away.”

This year, I want to slow down.  I was to breathe a little easier, to retrain my focus upon the people God has lovingly placed here, in my own household.  I want to live more gratitude.

With a family of seven, this is probably going to be more of a change in the state of my heart, rather than in our actual schedule.  Although I certainly hope to limit certain distractions, worries, and commitments that aren't necessary, and that don't contribute to our family's well-being.

I'm going to have to make room somehow, since I will begin homeschooling my first grader in less than a week!

Furthermore, I want to be more patient, and to trust in the Lord's timing with those things I wish I could hurry, but for which I have no other choice but to wait.

And if I'm going to hurry, I'd like it to be for the things that will nurture our relationship with the Lord, or that will bring Him to others.  Honestly, my husband and I should have more urgency in our understanding of our need to experience more of Him in our family life.

So yes, let us slow down in many ways in 2014.  But not in our desire to be with the Lord.  Not in our desire to experience and to share His goodness!

May God bless you all in this New Year!