Too busy to notice?

Matt Brown writes today at A Holy Experience about how God could be doing many things in our lives, but we are only aware of two or three of them.

Isn’t this what Christmas teaches us more than anything?

That: God’s greatest mercies often come in the most unexpected packages.

The Christmas child born in the forgotten little town far away from the hustle and bustle of the earth’s important empires.

Even the little inn didn’t have a room, so He entered the world among the farm animals. And there was very little fanfare.

Yes, some angels did sing, but only some lowly shepherds and their sheep were around to catch a glimpse of the most historic and earth-shattering day in all of eternity.

Yes, some wise men sought Him and brought the Christmas child gifts based off their ancient foretelling and the path of the stars. There were hints along the way, but you couldn’t see it without looking.

The announcement was there, but you had to catch it. You had to care.

What if instead of worrying about the 10,000 things we have to do this Christmas season, we spent it looking for more of the 10,000 things God is already doing in our lives?

There are endless treasures (Ephesians 3:8) that have come to us in the Christmas child, but how often are we too busy to notice?

God wants us to have faith in His nearness, and that He will reward us when we earnestly seek Him (Hebrews 11:6).

Our eyes are so bleak sometimes. We all struggle with some degree of spiritual blindness.

Paul tell us, “Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.” (1 Corinthians 13:12)

Maybe this is why we will never stop worshiping the Christmas child in heaven – not to robotically follow along, not because singing is the only thing to do, but because the veil will be removed, and we will finally see…finally see God for the all-glorious, unbelievably infinite, soul-overwhelming Being that He is.

My friend Rich Langton explains, “God doesn’t just do good, He’s the definition of good. Everything we think of as good ultimately reflects Him!”

This is what it means to see – to become aware of God and His goodness and astonishing working all around us so that the things of this world grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.

Seeing changes everything. We need God to open our eyes.

This is what the advent season is all about.

Looking with anticipation toward the Christmas child, and asking our Father in heaven to clear our foggy eyes so we can see some more…

“I pray your hearts will be flooded with light —

so you can understand the confident hope He has given to those He called.” (Ephesians 1:18)