Christmas and Busy Part 2.....

Now that we now busyness itself is not a sin we can breath a sigh of relief. However, our motivation for the busyness is what we need to evaluate.

The second thing I read today is from "Heart of an Artist" on prayer during times of busyness (italicized not in original text):

It would do us good to realize during the Christmas season that it shows in Scripture the busier Jesus became, the more time He spent in prayer. In the middle of a busy schedule He would often withdraw to pray, sometimes spending long hours into the night on His news. Listen to Henri Nouwen quote Mark 1:35 and then expound on it:

"In the morning, long before dawn, He got up and left the house, and went off to a lonely place and prayed there." In the middle of sentences loaded with action----healing suffering people, casting out devils, responding to impatient disciples, traveling from town to town and preaching from synagogue to synagogue we find these quiet words. "In the morning, long before dawn, he got up and left the house, went off to a lonely place and prayed there."
In the center of breathless activities we hear a restful breathing. Surrounded by hours of moving we find a moment of quiet stillness. In the heart of the much involvement there are words of withdrawal. In the dist of action there is contemplations. And after much togetherness there is solitude. The more I read this nearly silent sentence locked in between the loud words of action, the more I have the sense that the secret of Jesus' ministry is hidden in that lonely place where he went to pray, early in the morning, long before dawn.....It is in the lonely (quiet) place, where Jesus enters into intimacy with the Father, that His ministry is born."

So, as we are hustling and bustling during this Christmas season may these words of Mark 1:35 come back to mind and may we remember to take time to spend time with our true source of strength....Our Lord and Father. Maybe it may mean sitting in the parking lot in the car for five minutes before rushing to our next activity or event talking and listening to our Father. Maybe it means looking at our calendar with God's eyes and removing the things that don't bring Him glory.

Remember Nouwen's final statement (the one that really rung true with me) It is in the lonely place (quiet place), where Jesus enters into intimacy with the Father, that his ministry is born.