junk food

There isn't really any kind of spiritual equivalent of 'junk food'.

Quick meals, pre-packaged, ten minutes max in the microwave - and there you are. A meal (of sorts) on the table in next to no time at all.

Pasta that tastes like the maker confused it with plastic and sauces which look like they'd suit an artist's palette better than your own. But, hey, it's a meal and it's quick and it's there on your plate in a moment!

The food which nourishes the soul simply doesn't come like that. There just isn't an equivalent.

It needs time to be prepared. That's one of the problems there always is through 'Christmas' week - the week that follows Christmas Day on through to New Year's Day.

Like this year, you wake up the morning after Christmas Day and already Sunday's getting pretty near. There isn't really time to laze about. It doesn't really do to take a break and leave the preparation for a day or two. It all becomes too rushed.

God's Word refuses to be packaged as a junk food sort of thing.

So I have to give it time. And time is what I've tried to give the task today. Without being rushed. Without being always pressurised by knowing that the clock is ticking down and there isn't all that long before the 'food' is to be served.

I was glad of the time through the first part of the day. An undistracted morning (in the main) and the chance to sit and listen to the Lord and in the sort of quietness there is to hear just what he's seeking to be saying to us all. And then to build from there.

A start was made, at any rate. The afternoon and evening were already spoken for - family commitments, with folk to say goodbye to and be taken to the airport for their flight and folk to see and spend time with. That sort of thing.

The days can be short in every sense, this time of year!

And 'long' as well, because it's often pretty late before I get to bed!

But Christmas time or not, God's people need the sustenance of 'food', the food which he alone, by speaking through his word, can really give.

And so, no matter that there are these times of relaxation with both family and friends, there's still the need to find the time (and make the time) to listen to the Lord, prepare the 'food' that others will be looking for and needing all the time.

A meal and not just 'snacks'.