I love the holidays! The two weeks of celebrating Christmas and the upcoming new year is a time I relish with family, friends, and holiday food. I also get in a great hike, fun card games, meaningful late-night conversations, and lots and lots of calories. It’s a fun-filled time of reconnecting with loved ones. As I write this blog, I am thinking about our family Christmas brunch and how much I enjoy it. Several years ago, my wife and I threw together a meal that somehow has become a family tradition – Belgian waffles, strawberries and whipped cream, hashbrowns, short order eggs cooked just the way you like them, fresh pineapple, coffee, and juice. There is nothing exceptionally Christmassy about it, but when I suggested changing the menu a couple of years ago, the uproar was so great by family members that I am now destined to be the waffle maker, hash browner and egg cooker on Christmas until I can’t do it anymore. Everyone looks forward to the crazy kitchen mess and the experience of hot-off-the-grill food.
Looking forward to this brunch is only a picture of how much we should look forward to relating to God. David describes a longing and delight for God in Psalm 63 that causes me to stop and ask myself, “How much do I long for and delight in my relationship with God?” Instead of a feasting meal and messy kitchen, David captures our imagination by comparing a healthy desire for God with thirstiness in a dry and weary land and celebrating God by worshiping him and recounting his great love for us. If you are like me, you have probably experienced the loss of this kind of longing and celebration of God from time to time due to the busyness of modern life. I’ve noticed that a weariness of body and soul results. David reminds us in this Psalm that our soul thirsts for God like a person who thirsts for water while trekking through a dry and weary land! It sounds like modern life to me. Our souls do thirst for the meaningfulness and satisfaction that come from a close relationship with God, but we often let the tasks and tiredness of life squeeze out any interaction with Him. In this same Psalm, David reminds us that God’s lovingkindness is better than life itself. After all, God is the Author of our Life (as Jesus is described in Acts 3:15). He knows exactly what we need when we need it. Psalm 63 is a song about the first thing that we need – God Himself, our Heavenly Father, Our Savior Jesus, and our Companion the Holy Spirit.
This holiday season, let’s reprioritize our time to include what we need most of all. It’s not feasting and partying, and it’s not experiences and family. It’s personal time with God!
Lord, quench the thirst of our souls and let us celebrate you and your great love for us.
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