Laurie Wheeler:: Embracing Rest

Wow, where did January come from? Weren't we JUST sitting together in Geneva, embarking on the holiday season and praying for rest during the crazy that can be Christmas? Well, I hope you survived, even thrived, while finishing out 2015. In the flurry of it all, this post was placed on the back-burner and is going up a bit late, but perhaps it can help you reflect on how the holidays went for you and hopefully you still find it encouraging and applicable for any hectic time of life.

Note: There is no recording of this talk in order for Laurie to be at her most honest, so hopefully these notes will do her justice!

On December 1st, UPC's own Laurie Wheeler shared about how to find rest during Christmas and this chaotic season of life while facing the pressure to "do it all."

As moms, we believe the lie that it is our job to generate a meaningful and memorable Christmas or else our kids' lives are basically ruined. It's a seasonal fallacy that plays into the everyday myth we already frequently hear about salvation overall-- we are responsible for our own salvation and a meaningful + memorable life.
Oh, the pressure.

Alternatively, the season of Advent sends a different message. Advent is a gift from the ancient church that rescues us from this false story of Christmastime and restores the true story of Christmas--God's salvation for all of us. It focuses on the real story of what God's doing in our lives.

Christmas: generating life, consuming, doing
Advent: receiving life, fasting, watching in hope
Christmas: the time of year when we have no time left...the end of our calendar with no more days/hours/minutes to spare.
Advent: the beginning of the Christian calendar...observing the beginning and waiting in expectation.

Laurie was adamant in saying she wasn't suggesting we go out and "learn Advent." She encouraged us to look for one small suggestion or practice to make this season more real to us.

• Recognize where and how Jesus is already
• Watch for Him in what is already there

Every year, the message of Christmas is that the "bad things" stay out of the holiday and only the "good things" belong in Christmastime. But it turns out the story of Jesus was not a Christmas story.  It was full of imperfect conditions and inconvenient situations and seemingly backwards logic. Which makes it a perfect Advent story. In the midst of it all, Christ came to save us all.

So look for it, for Him. Receive it gently. Jesus renews and regenerates in the midst of it all. That's where we see Him and truly find joy.

During this season, a lot of us struggle with what Christmas always was and generating the new + the perfect. But pause. Look for Him now.

Rejoice by:

• Repent: turn away from our culture's lie that YOU generate Christmas
• Resist: refuse to accept the pressure to generate so you can pay attention to what already is. 
• Receive: receive Jesus in the day.

He loves to show up in the mess, the unfinished, the delight, the awe, the broken, the imperfect, the wonder. If we're looking.