Henry Thoreau once wrote, "Nothing can be more useful to a man or woman than a determination not to be hurried." We're all so uneasy, in a hurry. There is so much to be done, jobs to be completed, deadlines to be met, calls to be made and promises to keep! We seem to be way behind schedule, whatever that is meant to mean.

God made time but we try to take over. Doctors tell us that hurrying is not good for the health. It is regarded as a form of violence exercised upon time. It seems a pity, but it's true for many, that making and living and having a life are not the same things.

Samuel Beckett in his rather unusual play, 'Waiting For Godot', acknowledges that passing the time is for many of us a primary problem. We don't like waiting. Instead of waiting we talk about killing time. I suppose that's alright for those who like their time dead! He explores the paradox of the human condition that we so fear death while we search desperately to shorten the time while we wait for it! He does this rather hilariously. The characters on stage tell stories to pass the time and then they worry what to do next. In that play, through a miracle of art, we can enjoy looking at ridiculous aspects of ourselves, however painful that may be.

As Christmas approaches we stop to reflect that Jesus came to bridge the gap between God and ourselves. Christianity is about relationship. That should enable us to look with new eyes at the reality around us. Must we rush in to buy things that may be of no practical value when Christmas is over? Something inside us seems to despise the ordinary and we become star-struck, celebrity obsessed, believing that those are blessed who are forever young, forever rich, forever good-looking, forever healthy, forever important and forever busy. It's more our busyness than our badness that's the problem.

It's the feast of the Incarnation and we should seek for a sense of the sacred in our lives. There is so much beauty in the world that we miss as we hurry by and beauty has power to transform the soul. It is the greatest of all teachers. I
envy artists, poets and those who have artistic gifts in so many disciplines in life. There is a strong relationship between art and spirituality. To experience beauty is to glimpse something of God. He speaks through beauty and so must we. Addressing peoples' anxieties, Jesus pointed to the life of the lilies of the field and the birds of the air.

Christmas has become a bit too commercialised, don't you think? It can still be a magical time. As we prepare to celebrate Christ among us this Christmas we might spare a moment of our time to think of how best to spend our time and money.

We cannot do everything,
And there is a sense of liberation in realising that.
This enables us to do something,
And to do it very well.
It may be incomplete but is a beginning.
A step along the way,
An opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter
And to rest.
We may never see the end results,
But that is the difference between
The master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders,
Ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.
(Oscar Romero)

- Jimmy Murray