I should never take up the occupation of dismantling bombs.  It does not fit in my skill set.

Last night, as I became sous chef to my husband while he made homemade macaroni and cheese for a potluck, we were discussing my abilities to read and follow directions.  Commonly while cooking, I will miss a step a long the way, most likely because I got distracted.   Details ya know!

I tend to neglect details when I get busy or I am in a hurry, thus the bomb dismantling would not be a good job for me.

But life is full of details not to be missed.

I admit, this week has been a bit crazy.  I have been trying to cram a lot into a short amount of time.  My kids are two days away from Christmas break, and the amount of parties, functions, concerts, social events, and homework are all consuming.

But life is full of details not to be missed.

Last night at youth group, Pastor Phil discussed preparing for Christmas.  He showed a clip from the documentary, “God Grew Tired of Us.”  In this clip, we see the reaction of two African Christian men, who were refugees from Sudan and had come to the United States. They were trying to understand our cultural ways of celebrating Christmas.  They shared how in their culture, there are no Christmas trees, there is no Santa, simply they gather and dance, sing and celebrate the birth of Christ.  They prepare themselves spiritually and they focus on the birth of a Savior.

On the way home from youth group, my kids got talking about how simple and beautiful that would be.

Julia said, “It makes me want to go to Africa for Christmas just to experience what that would be like.  The simplicity would be awesome.”  All the girls agreed.

Stephen replied, “But we need to learn to live well in our culture. How do we do this?”

I spend a lot of time preparing for Christmas.  In my free time, I am preparing gifts, cooking, planning, wrapping, and decorating. I spend less time preparing my heart.  Details ya know.

One of the ways I have been fighting my urge to run a hundred miles an hour is I won’t pick up any electronic device such as my computer and my phone until I have picked up my Bible.  This has helped me stay away from distractions.  Truly I want to know the details of what God has for me.  I want to hear the details of his words.  It’s easy to walk into this season saying…. “Yeah yeah yeah, baby Jesus was born in a manger,” and forget how detailed God was in this miracle.

American culture runs us busy this time a year.  Do you ever wonder if this is one way we have been devoured by the devil?  And how do we fight such distractions?

Discipline.

I believe we force ourselves to stop and pay attention.  Just like exercise, we must set aside time…. to be in his presence, to see His beauty, and to hear his voice, to praise His name, to smell his fragrance, and to drink from His well.

Then we take time to pray for someone that is on our mind, we write an encouraging note to friend, look into the face of our children and memorize where all their little freckles are,  smell the air after it rains, soak in a beautiful song,  touch a child who is in need,  give our money to something important,  think about someone we miss and why we miss them, then  sit and silently reflect on God.

We imagine his arms wrapped around us and we listen.  What is he whispering?

And what He whispers to me I ponder.

These are the details of life I don’t want to miss.

John 10:27 -30 My sheep listen to my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.  I and the Father are one.

Coming soon…..Details about Shoes for Kids and are awesome report from this year!