Interruptions!

   I'm a list person.  Every week I write a list of the things I want to accomplish and the days I plan to do them.  Problem is, there are always interruptions!  Maybe a child is sick and the daycare says he has to go home.  Maybe someone went to the hospital and I need to go visit.  Maybe something just takes a lot longer than I had planned and my schedule is thrown off.  When all is said and done, the week never goes as planned.  All the interruptions got in the way!

   But I have come to realize that the interruptions can also be opportunities.  That day at home with a sick child is a wonderful time to cuddle and soothe and comfort my now two year old "baby."  Those moments will be gone all too soon.  That visit to the hospital is a way to be the face of Jesus to someone who is hurting and scared.  What a privilege to be the vehicle through which God works!  That project that takes far too long, needed a little more time for God to bring the right thoughts, the right people, the right energy together to make it really meaningful.

   Yes, more often than not, it's the interruptions that are the really important things in life.  It's where ministry happens.  It's where relationships are deepened.  It's where life becomes abundant.
   As you go about your busy Christmas season, don't get frustrated by the interruptions.  Welcome them.  See them as opportunities to engage in what is really important in life.  After all, God is all about interruptions.  God is in the interruptions.  God came into the world through an interruption called Jesus.