How many Christmas cards do you receive? Christmas cards are an American cultural phenomenon. Perhaps other cultures have the same phenomenon. The cards start arriving in early December, from friends and family. We hang the cards in our dining room, as part of our Christmas decorations. Some cards include a letter with a recap of the person or family’s year. They might include a family photo. They might only include a family photo. Sometimes people send a card and they don’t even sign it.
I get those unsigned cards, and I wonder why the person went to the trouble to send the card. Especially if it is from a person or family with whom we are not close anymore. The people send the card because we used to have a close relationship, and they feel a kind of obligation to send a card. But the relationship has changed.
My guess is that most of us have had relationships change. That’s normal. A once-close relationship can become distant. Happens all the time. When a once-close relationship becomes distant, our hearts might ache, and we might miss the closeness we once had, but we also know that we simply can’t be close with that many people all the time. We all have different personalities with varying capacities for friendship. But even with the connection that social media offers, it is difficult to be close with more than 10 people or so.
Who are your close people? Probably some family members, probably some friends from the past, probably some church friends, probably some others. Think about what it takes for you to maintain closeness. It takes work. You must be intentional about sending that text message, “How are you?” Or setting up a lunch. It can’t just be sending the annual Christmas card that says, “Merry Christmas.”
It takes effort, intentionality, to stay close.
That is what God wants. He wants closeness. To be known in such a way that there is a regular personal experience. So evaluate you relationship with God. For those of us who have been in relationship with God for many years, Jesus’ prayer in John 17:1-5 is not only a calling out for us to examine if we are living like Jesus did, the work of offering our lives, but also to examine the experiential quality of our relationship with God.
What step will you take to move closer to him? Even if he seems distant. What will you do to open up time in your schedule for him? Ask him, “How are you doing, God?” and listen. Read his word, and pray, “God speak.” Join a small group or Sunday School class and hear him speak through the discussion. Talk with him throughout the day.
I’ve been visiting a elderly woman who is a member of my congregation, but who has been in a rehab facility for the last few months. I ask her how her relationship with God is going, knowing that she really wants to be released and go home, and this rehab is taking way longer than she ever could have imagined. She says, “Oh, I talk with God all day long.”
What step can you take to talk with God like that?
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
Engaging Scripture 