“We interrupt this evenings program to bring you this breaking news…”
“Mom, I just threw up in my bed.”
So, do you know anything about interruptions? (We each chuckle.) They can be so irritating and get a person so sidetracked, can’t they? In my mind I often think, “I have a list of important things I should be doing”.
When my children were very little I used to have a Henri Nouwen quote on my refrigerator from his book, Turn My Mourning into Dancing. He quoted an older University of Notre Dame teacher that said,
“You know . . . my whole life I have been complaining that my work was constantly interrupted, until I discovered that my interruptions were my work.”
Especially with small children, it seemed each day was a series of interruptions and this quote was posted to help me to remember (at least for portions of the day… at least on some days) that I was home to love my children and deal with the “interruptions”.
For me, an “interruption” has been my husband’s health issues during these empty nest years that are supposed to be footloose and fancy free. Adjusting and dealing with the remnants of an anoxic brain injury has been an interruption to the plans we had for our lives. When I told a friend about it and wondered out loud about what God wants for us in this detour, she mentioned, “perhaps this isn’t a detour, perhaps this is what God has for you”. Being a caretaker/helper seems like an interruption to the real role in life one is to play, but with the backdrop of God’s plan, His big story, it seems important to remember that often “interruptions are my work”.
Have you ever noticed what a series of interruptions the Christmas story was?
A young woman’s plans to get married are interrupted by an Angel telling her that she will be pregnant and bear God’s Son.
A young man’s plans to get married to a sweet virgin girl are interrupted by his discovery that she is already pregnant and then by an Angel in a dream telling him to go ahead and marry her.
The newly married couple’s life is interrupted by a census demanding they travel to Bethlehem to register, oh, never mind that she is about to give birth.
The shepherd’s quiet evening after settling the sheep is interrupted by an angelic announcement of a Savior’s birth.
The lives of Magi, wise men from the east who study the stars, are interrupted when they see an unusual star in the sky, a new star in the constellation of the virgin perhaps, and they know it is the star of a king, the king of the Jews.
How did each of them respond to these interruptions? When they saw they were opportunities to join God in His work they embraced them. And when they embraced the interruptions they ended up playing the role in God’s story that they were destined to play.
Mary- “I am the Lord’s servant, may it be to me as you have said.”
Joseph- “When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.”
Shepherds- “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
Magi from the east- ‘Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.”‘
For each of these people embracing the interruption was costly. We read a few lines about them in the Gospels but the interruptions changed the trajectories of their lives… by saying “yes” to the interruption they embraced the Messiah!
What interruptions may God be placing in your life, in my life? Could there be a bigger picture, a calling to be a part of something bigger then we can see at this moment? Join me in taking some time to ponder what God may be doing and how to join Him in His work, especially to consider the things that may be considered “interruptions” as they may be opportunities to embrace the Messiah.
Lord, thank you for the interruptions in my life. Help me to trust You with the bigger picture, that You are at work in the world and that events are not meaningless and random. Help me to join You in Your work and to embrace the “interruptions” in my plans which humbly cause me to stop and listen to You instead of hurl headlong in the plans I have made. May I “ponder all of these things in my heart” and seek Your face, the face of the Messiah and say “yes” to the role I am destined to play in Your story. Thank you for the examples of those who said “yes” to You at the time of Jesus’ birth and for those that have faithfully told this story over the generations so that we hear it now and can respond. May we never tire of hearing it or telling it and may we treasure it in our hearts.
Luke 2:1-20; Matthew 2:1-12
(The nativity drawing is from a “chalk talk” done for children during the Christmas season.)
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