When I was in Colorado this past April at the Captivating Retreat… we did something called “soaking worship”. I had never experienced anything like it before. It was so simple… yet so impacting.
You know how good it feels to run a hot bubble bath?? LOCK THE DOOR… light a few candles… sink down into it and just SOAK?? Yet when's the last time you actually TOOK time to do that for yourself?? Well basically, soaking worship is just that. It's taking time to SOAK… in Jesus. Soaking in WHO he is. How worthy He is. Soaking… in praise. At the retreat, they played song after song of worship music for ½ hour and we were told to clear our minds of everything else. No confession prayers… no petition prayers… no praying for little Johnnie who has the flu. No distractions allowed. Dismiss them… and just BE. Just soak Him in.
It took awhile for me to be able to do that. To be able to clear all the clutter out of my mind and just allow myself to focus… on Him.
As we were singing some uplifting Christmas carols in church this morning, I thought of that again. I guess because with all the busy-ness of holiday preparations, it’s hard to FEEL (as the over-used-saying goes) the “reason for the season”. Crunch time is right around the corner after all!! In various conversations, I’ve heard people asking each other if they're getting “it” all done. Inevitably, the response seems to include some eye rolling.
So how about we take some time to soak in the Babe of Bethlehem at least once this season. Get that I-Pod loaded with 15-30 mins of GOOD praise type regular or Christmas music… or pop in your favorite CD if you have one without all the secular stuff. Let Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer find his own friends for a little while. Frosty may just have to melt. And we’ll deal with Grandma getting run over by that reindeer later.
This season, find 30 minutes… ALONE.
Not in the car; not while getting other things done.
Dim the lights.
Turn the tree on.
Light some candles.
Shut the shades.
CRANK the music and let it speak to you.
Sing.
Lay on the ground.
DANCE in His presence!!
You may even feel like weeping.
Allow yourself time to PRAISE Him for becoming human… for YOU.
He deserves some uncluttered time with us. And we NEED it with Him.
Here’s my favorite Christmas song, "Mary did you know" and a nice video to go with it. (Excuse the advertisement first. Seems so out of place.)
If you have the stomach for it, you can google Mary Did You Know and there's another you tube video from the Passion of The Christ movie. That video brought me to heartfelt tears... and really drove things home. I warn you though, it's graphic. But so was reality. I'll leave that visit up to you.
Point is... find some time to be in His presence in the homestretch of the Christmas Season.
I think you'll look at things differently if you do.
Maybe even Uncle Herbert. ;-).
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