Love

I love efficiency. Can we cut the fluff? Cut it. Is there a road to get to point A faster? Take it. For the love of baby Jesus, don’t waste my time.

But here is the thing. The older I get, the more painfully aware I have become that love is not efficient.

It is the fourth week of Advent, and this past Sunday, churches around the world lit the fourth candle on their Advent wreaths, symbolizing love. If you are reading this on the day it was originally sent, it is Christmas Eve. We have spent almost a month preparing for tomorrow, Christmas Day, the birth of Jesus Christ. Four weeks! Come on- that is a long time! Surely, we could have found a way to shortcut this season! Just kidding- kind of.

The fact that God came to us as a newborn child teaches us that God is not efficient. For nine months, the savior of the world took his time growing in his mother’s womb. At least we aren’t elephants! Their gestation period is 22 months! After nine months of waiting, he was finally born. But he didn’t come out with arms swinging, ready to go head-to-head in a battle royal with Satan. No, he was a baby! Have you ever been around a baby? There is nothing efficient about a baby. Sure, they are cute and cuddly, but that’s about it. Then he grew to be a toddler, Lord have mercy, they take forever to do anything… then eventually a teenager… don’t get me started… You get the point.

Japanese theologian Kosuke Koyama, in his book Three Mile an Hour God, beautifully wrote, “Love has its speed. It is a spiritual speed. It is a different kind of speed from the technological speed to which we are accustomed. It goes on in the depth of our life, whether we notice or not, at three miles an hour. It is the speed we walk and therefore the speed the love of God walks.”

God is not efficient because love is not efficient. Love goes out of its way for the other, taking the long road if necessary. Love does not take shortcuts, but cuts deep. Love leaves the ninety-nine for the sake of the one. God is not efficient because love is not efficient.

I love efficiency, but I also kind of hate that I am wired this way. It causes me to miss so many small opportunities to experience God’s love and to extend his love to others, especially the two beautiful humans I live with.

On this eve of God’s birth, I invite you to PAUSE. For a moment, just a moment, set aside the to-do lists- the presents that still need to be wrapped, the last-minute grocery store run, the text to grandma- whatever it is that is stealing your attention.

PAUSE.
Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out.

Pray:

Jesus, thank you. Thank you for coming to us. For taking on flesh and bone. For becoming one of us. Thank you for loving me and accepting me just as I am. Help me to extend that love to others today, as inefficient as it may be. Amen.

Merry Christmas. 

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