a matter of convenience?

Sometimes we have so much going on in our lives that we find our relationship with Christ something to be fit in with all our other activities and events. You know, we take the kids to soccer, we join the latest self-help group, we go to church...we find ways to wedge in our "religious commitment," although too often we forego that commitment if we find it inconvenient or interruptive to our schedule.

As I meditate on the account of Jesus' birth some more (this is obviously a good time to do so, I don't do it enough the rest of the year), I think again about this issue of convenience. It matters, it really does, because God is never a God of convenience. To follow him and his plan will almost always disrupt my schedule, my plans, my agenda. Look again at the story:

- It was an obvious "inconvenience" for Mary (and Joseph) to discover her pregnancy. It change everything in their hopes, their plans, their reputations;

- And how inconvenient for Joseph and Mary to have to leave Nazareth and travel to Bethlehem for the census (what was God thinking?);

- Nowhere to stay when they got to town? You've got to be kidding! The young couple had to ask around town to try to find a room, and she was soooo pregnant!

- The innkeeper may have been somewhat annoyed in trying to find somewhere for this late-arriving couple to stay. And they couldn't have been too thrilled about having to bed down in a barn just when she was due to give birth;

- Shepherds were minding their own business when angels interrupted their night with good news. Fine enough, but then these pastors had to leave their flocks and find a baby in a barn. Couldn't the angels have provided an easier assignment?

- At the same time, magi a thousand miles away realized that something had just shaken their world and they were determined to find it. But it wouldn't be easy. They would have to travel for many months, following a star night after night through the desert, hoping there would be something tangible at the end of the journey.

None of these were events of convenience. Probably because the most important things God brings to us are designed to stop us and make us choose between what's convenient and what really matters. If God interrupted our lives like he did all these peoples' what would we say? How would we respond? Would we excitedly follow what we believed we were being led to do? Would we roll our eyes and grudgingly obey? Would we check our pda's and calendars to make sure we could fit in whatever it was God was talking to us about?

As we celebrate Christ's birth today (and beyond), never forget that at the greatest plans God has for you will most likely be inconvenient...and that's by design. For it's when we clear our schedules to make room for him that we find him ready to change us in ways we could never imagine. So be open, be ready and look for God to change things up in your busy life.

Can you think of a better gift this time of year? Merry Christmas!