๐๐ข๐บ ๐ธ๐ท โ โ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ฉโ, ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฅ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด.๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ . . .
In this season, the sideways glance can kill you. It can steal your joy. Worse, it can rob you of ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ.
FOMO (fear of missing out) can be a real struggle for a lot of us. In this age of social media, we see everyone elseโs awesome dรฉcor, delicious food, festive events, and stunning family photos. As believers, we also take notice of everyone elseโs โadvent endeavorsโ and wonder how we missed this or that touching opportunity to honor the Christ of Christmas.
Sadly, Iโve been there. Often. In a place of complete abundance, I have battled the deep ache of โnot enough.โ It is beyond illogical. It is shameful. When the realization becomes overwhelming and defeating, one song lyric seems to jolt me back to a pure place:
๐๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ด๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฏ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ตโฃ
๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถโ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ข๐ญ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต,โฃ
๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐บ๐ฆ๐ดโฃ
๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐๐ช๐ฎโฃ
(Francesca Battistelliโs โBehold Himโ)
In that moment, I realize the only thing Iโve missed is a gaze in the right direction.
When I lift my eyes to behold my Savior, I notice the most touching and humbling reality โ His gaze has been on me the whole time. He has never looked away, gotten distracted, gotten swept away or overwhelmed.
He is my faithful and gentle Shepherd and His care for me takes me by the hand and leads me from chaos to calm. In that place, I find ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ.
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฎ๐บ ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฅ,โฃ
๐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ.โฃ
๐๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐จ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ด;โฃ
๐๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฎ๐ด.โฃ
๐๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ธ๐ด ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐จ๐ต๐ฉ.โฃ
๐๐ฆ ๐จ๐ถ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฑ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ด,โฃ
๐ฃ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐๐ช๐ด ๐๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ.โฃ
๐๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ญ๐ฌโฃ
๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ณ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ท๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐บ,โฃ
๐ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ง๐ณ๐ข๐ช๐ฅ,โฃ
๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ญ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฆ.โฃ
๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ง๐งโฃ
๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฆ๐ค๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฆ.โฃ
๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ง๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฆโฃ
๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด.โฃ
๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐บโฃ
๐ข๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ช๐ญ.โฃ
๐๐บ ๐ค๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ง๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด.โฃ
๐๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ดโฃ
๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ง๐ข๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆโฃ
๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ณ๐ด๐ถ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฆโฃ
๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆโฃ
๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆโฃ
๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ.โฃ
(๐๐ด๐ข๐ญ๐ฎ ๐ธ๐น, ๐๐๐)
I realize that, in the swirl, I fail to do the very thing that thrills my soul โ the wonderful thing of simply noticing. Not the sideways glance, but an awe-filled gaze, lost in wonder about the Person and undeniable touch of my Shepherd!
Why do I find myself still searching, striving for something (Iโm not even sure what?), when there is already SO much happening in me and around me that could only be His doing?
Have I forgotten to look up, look around, bear witness, savor, treasure, linger where and in what and with whom I am right here, right now?
What tempts my heart to feel like Iโm missing something when with the LORD as my Shepherd I truly lack nothing?
May He captivate my sight and my heart in new ways today and lead me to a place of purity, clarity, and ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ, knowing I can rest in His tender and capable care!
How do you most need JESUS, your Shepherd, to care for you in gentle and intimate ways? What about His Person or His undeniable touch on your world might capture your gaze today?
the cover of His Presence 