Today has been bitty - lots of odds and ends to do, but nothing very concrete.  Now it's late afternoon, time is not on my side and I feel I ought to say something...

Isn't this the trap we all fall into now and then, the 'need to say something' or to 'do something', that our self-imposed expectations control us, rather than us them.  Somehow creating Christmas swamps what Christmas creates...   Into this self-imposed overload, God says simply this: "cease!"

Busy, busy believers, trying to create Christmas: cease!

Overstretched, overwhelmed carers: cease!

Overexcited, overindulged receivers: cease!

Be still

I AM

God

Cease

You Are

Mine

I

for

You

I

in

You

I

with

You

~

Emmanuel: God with Us

Amen.