Not Just for Christmas Time

"Christmas time is here," or so goes the opening line of A Charlie Brown Christmas, my favorite Christmas show. I was watching clips from that movie the other night as I was doing research for a project for a friend of mine. I stopped and watched one of the last scenes. It was the scene where they were working on the Christmas play and, in a fit of frustration, Charlie Brown cried out, "Isn't there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?" His friend said, "Sure, Charlie Brown, I can tell you what Christmas is all about." His friend, Linus, then told the story of the birth of Jesus, as depicted in the Book of Luke. When he finished, Linus said, "That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown." At hearing what Linus had to say, Charlie Brown was satisfied, content even, and took his Christmas tree and went home.

Television networks only show that movie right before Christmas day. But I think the message is something we need to remember all year long. The underlying message is that it's not about presents, but rather it's about presence. There's a song that's popular on the radio right now called How He Loves, by David Crowder*Band, off their new album "Church Music." The opening lyrics of this song are, "He is jealous for me." That's a very revealing statement about our God. It tells me that He is more interested in the time I spend with Him than the time I spend doing things for Him. It's not that God wants me to stop serving Him or serving His body of believers. But He wants me to make sure that I'm spending just as much, if not more, time with Him as I am doing works for Him. On top of which, I don't want to get to heaven and have a resume filled with all the things I did for Him and have Him look at me and say, "I knew you not." Can you imagine how devastating that would be?

Last year, I lead a small group based on the book Standing Firm, by Donna Partow. In one of the chapters, Donna describes a woman going on a date with a handsome, young suitor. She described the scene as the couple sitting in a restaurant and the young man content with staring into the woman's eyes. The silence, however, makes the young woman nervous, so she finds anything and everything she can to fill up the silence. The author said that at the end of the evening, the young man went home and cried, because he was unable to share his love for her with all the chaos around them. The author said that God is the young suitor, who longs to tell us how much we mean to Him, but He won't do it amid all the chaos we put in our lives, (95). I find my life so ironic at times. I find that I learn the most about my God and hear the most from Him when I take the time to spend time alone with Him, and yet sometimes it seems the hardest thing for me to do. I'm fortunate that He will speak to me when I am crazy busy, but I know that I hear so much more when I dedicate time, more than 5 minutes, to reading His Word and listening for His voice.

In the beginning, He would speak to me, over me. What I mean is that the first time I know that I ever heard from God, I had been calling out to Him, over and over, "I want to hear from You. Let me hear Your voice." Over and over, that was what I said. So finally, He had to speak over me and He said, "Be quiet." I told this story to a few other people and they said, "Oh, you mean 'Be still and know that I am God.'" But that's not what He said. Maybe you can argue that it's the same thing, but for me, God was very straight and to the point. He said, "Be quiet." I often giggle about that time. Because for me, it was so profound, those two words, and at the same time, so simple. But God will do that. He'll take something that is so obvious and yet so foreign to our personalities to make His point. Take the story of Martha & Mary, for example.

I believe, even though the Bible says that they are two sisters, both Martha & Mary are two different personalities that each person has: the servant and the student. The Book of Luke tells the story of Martha & Mary. As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he had to say. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!" "Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better and it will not be taken away from her," (Luke 10:38-42). The Lord said that Mary, the student, who sat at His feet, hanging on His every word, was the one who chose what was better. I can't show love through my actions until I have learned about love through spending time my God. There is a song we sang at First Wednesday that describes what I hear as Mary's, the other sister's, song. I want this to be my song, too.

The more I seek you, the more I find you.

The more I find you, the more I love you.

I want to sit at your feet, drink from the cup in your hands,

lay back against you and breath, feel your heart beat.

This love is so deep, it's more than I can stand.

I melt in your peace, it's overwhelming.