Keeping the main thing the main thing by Claire Musters



Here we are in the countdown to Christmas and, even before that, the countdown to the day the kids break up from school. Just two work days left before they will be on holiday, full of excitement and energy as they look forward to Christmas day. Is it just me or does it seem like schools are breaking up early this year?!

Perhaps it is the fact that we’ve just had our son’s birthday, and our first carol service. Perhaps it is the list of work I need to get done before Christmas (preferably in the quiet, before the kids break up from school). Perhaps too, it is the fact that, as a freelance writer, articles and reflections for Christmas were written months ago and I’m now concentrating my efforts on writing Bible study notes for Easter.

Perhaps…

… all these things are crowding into my mind – and crowding out the opportunities for reflection on this amazing time of year. I really do wonder how much I am embracing our current season. I am mindful of the busyness, stress, tiredness and I am generally feeling run down. I NEED a break – but my spirit also needs to slow down and reflect.

As writers we can often be on to the next job, focusing so much on our ‘to do’ lists that the world can almost pass us by. It can be such a solitary process and yet it is vital that it is punctuated by input from others, breaks away from our WIP and opportunities for activities that energise us.

I am aware of the wonder that the waiting of Advent contains; of the way that God can surprise us by unlocking something new in this oh so familiar part of our Big Story with Him. But it is so easy to miss those and to keep our heads down, slogging away.

So I’m asking myself – and you – this one question today: how are you keeping the main thing the main thing this Christmastime?


Claire is a freelance writer and editor, mum to two gorgeous young children, pastor’s wife, worship leader and school governor. Claire’s desire is to help others draw closer to God through her writing, which focuses on marriage, parenting, worship, discipleship, issues facing women today etc. Her books include Taking your Spiritual Pulse, CWR’s Insight Guide: Managing Conflict and Cover to Cover study guide on David and BRF Foundations21 study guides on Prayer and Jesus. She also writes a regular column for Christian Today as well as Bible study notes. She is currently standing is as editor for Families First magazine too. To find out more about her, please visit www.clairemusters.com and @CMusters on Twitter.

Comments

  1. Good question. I need to keep the main thing the main thing. I have a different problem but still need to ask the same question. I have a paid job outside the home which is extremely stressful at the moment (we hope it will calm down again soon). It leaves me with precious little emotional or physical energy for anything else. So every tiny moment being able to spend writing is so precious. But in all that it is so easy to lose sight of God and the real meaning of Christmas. Thanks for the reminder to keep the main thing the main thing.

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    1. Thanks - yes so easy for all the things we have to deal with each day to crowd our minds and hearts...

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  2. It's the 'reason for the season' conundrum that hits afresh each Christmas. Maybe if we tried to focus on just one aspect of the whole crazy shebang - like. . . I'm sitting in Starbucks right now waiting for my lovely daughter who suffers from chronic crippling back pain and is having painful, precarious treatment in the nearby neurology unit. The only gift I really want this year, the only thing that seems of any importance, is for this treatment to do some good. The rest is just tinselly trash. The son of God is 'risen with healing in his wings' so I'm praying as I sip my latte, as I promised her I would be when I left her half an hour ago. And I'm thanking God for the gift of prayer and the power of prayer.

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    1. Yes learning to focus on one thing would be good :)
      Sorry to hear about your daughter - I hope the treatment went well? Ill health certainly does focus your thinking doesn't it? I have a very ill mother, plus hospital appointments today, next Wed and an op myself (nothing too serious!) straight after the kids go back to school in the New Year. Determined to relax and enjoy the Christmas break with family in between!

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