Last Minute

This image taken via satellite shows the split minute difference as night falls upon our earth. There is a distinct difference between where the light is and the darkness falls. A matter of minutes between night and day.
I had several clerks ask me yesterday, " O are you just picking up some last minute gifts?"......."Ummmmm no", I replied, " I am picking out all my gifts". I am usually really on top of my shopping, get everything done bit by bit stretched out over time, and take my time for each gift I purchase. This year has been different in that I have had to do it in a rush, due to my father's passing on Thanksgiving day. I have also felt like I was spending money I did not actually have and did not have the luxury of time to search for each perfect gift. I felt like I have been grasping for straws. Luckily my family is easy to please and did not really ask for anything I should have gotten six months ago. I don't know how people who wait to the last minute do it.
I know one thing I have not waited til the last minute to do and that is believe the gift that was given to me and you in the birth of Jesus. Sitting in traffic, walking the heavily piped in caroled music mall, waiting in lines, doing the parking lot square dance, and getting a redo manicure cause they messed up the first one gave me lots of time to think in a world that would tell me I am running out of time. A world that puts us on this time clock to get everything done before a certain day. Now deadlines are a must, in some cases, but to embrace and accept the pressure of this season and miss the opportunity to embrace our Savior is missing out on time well spent with the most precious gift we could ever receive. Can we walk around with our eternal eyes, our heavenly ears and our servants hands remembering the reality of a little town, a God baby, a teenaged mother, and a genuine King that became clear so long ago? Can that moment of long ago become reality right now? Jesus quietly slipped into humanity, born to die, so I can live. Not just for life eternal, but for life right here and now in my car, walking the malls, shopping for gifts, cooking for family, wrapping presents, checking our lists, helping others and remembering those who have gone on before us. We have a choice of death or life, chaos or peace, tragedy or hope, and win or lose. If His birth isn't significant for us right here and now, then it isn't significant at all. Bold you might say, but truth, real truth can sting at first, but the healing balm that comes to the incision that cuts to the marrow brings new life, new birth and new hope.
I pray this Christmas we can all realize we can have new birth everyday when we have Jesus living within our hearts. Have you asked for the greatest gift you could ever receive? Don't wait til the last minute.
Merry Christmas yall.
Barbara Collins†
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