Stuff to Do

So the husband and I were able to get away for a 36-hour trip to Sydney. Without children, even. We went up the Sydney tower, which provides a 360°view of the city. It was breathtaking, and even more so because we went at sunset. It was a very busy place, with lots of families and tourists from many different nations. Sydney is like that. Everything is fast, busy, and frantic. Even folks who were on holidays were madly scrambling to take photos, seeing the stunning view through a lens instead of taking it all in. I like to take photos too, but I was surprised at how nobody was just looking- experiencing it.  Its a good metaphor, I think, for the way we do Advent. We plan, we schedule, we scramble to get here, to be there. Do we ever sit down and experience the tingling anticipation of the Christ child, or is what we're really anticipating the next day of Advent?  I said to my children Friday (Fried Day, in our house) "I love Jesus, but I hate Christmas." I hate

Or implied it. But you know something? There is truth there too. I encountered a beautiful truth this week, reading of David and Goliath. And decided that no longer would I panic over my own "Goliath" of the moment whatever it is. Because God's already won. I only need to trust. Though I do find it interesting that David grabbed FIVE stones. So maybe he's not so perfectly trusting after all, and that makes us more alike than I previously thought. But I digress.  So what did God have to teach me this week? He's taught me that sometimes it is necessary to say no. To walk up to the Goliath-esque to-do list, and say, "Enough."  To acknowledge that The List is NOT the boss of me, and no longer will I allow myself to be enslaved by it. My days belong to God, and I feel a beautiful peace in my soul when I hand that list over to Him, the One who has numbered each of my days, and say "I trust in Your plan more than my own." I still write The List