Issue 051
A comment was made at a meeting I attended, that the run up
to Christmas is very stressful. Work deadlines emerge as
items must be done before the Christmas break. Extra tasks
materialise because of the Christmas rush. Domestic matters
become complicated and intrusive at work, simply because
there are more domestic matters to fit into an already
unbalanced life. Some businesses become very busy and
others very quiet. If you are experiencing any of these things
then maybe you will agree with the comment about
Christmas stress.
But perhaps there is a way to turn it to your advantage. A
young carpenter discovers that his fiancée is pregnant,
experiences supernatural visitations, has to cope with nine
months of gossip and then uproot his family taking his
pregnant partner on a risky journey, only to discover that the
last accommodation left is with the animals.
Certainly his routine was disrupted, his business affected and
his life thrown off balance. In the space of less than a year
everything had changed. Does this seem like a recipe for
stress? As the bewildered young man stood in the stable that
first Christmas night having said goodbye to a crowd of
excited shepherds, maybe he began to realise, as he looked at
the child, that something wonderful had happened in the
middle of his stress – the Prince of Peace had arrived. In fact
the stress, anxiety and turmoil that he experienced merely
served to illustrate why the baby had to come in the first
place.
So here’s my suggestion: rather than let your stress in the
run up to Christmas blind you to the point of it all, why not
use it as a reminder of this first Christmas. Every time you
feel stressed over this period, connect your mind to the
Christmas story,. identify with Joseph or Mary in their
Upheavals, but most of all reflect on the Prince of Peace.
Reconsider the fact that this stressed-out world is exactly
what he came to rescue. Everything changed that night. Even
work was being rescued from its curse. Christmas is meant to
intrude on our working lives and bring peace even in the
middle of stress.
Isaiah 46:3-4
3 “Listen to me, O house of Jacob,
all you who remain of the house of Israel,
you whom I have upheld since you were conceived,
and have carried since your birth.
4 Even to your old age and grey hairs
I am he, I am he who will sustain you.
I have made you and I will carry you;
I will sustain you and I will rescue you.
Psalm 23:6
6 Surely goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
forever.
Matthew 28:20
20 And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.
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Work well
Geoff Shattock
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