It was a busy afternoon. I was distracted and overwhelmed, as many of us are during the holidays.

But I urgently needed to buy some laundry detergent — unless our family was willing to show up at church the next day in pajamas. So I rushed to the grocery store with that single item on my list.

By the time I parked the car, I had mentally added a few more items to the list, because the radio weatherman was predicting a big winter storm, and I might need some necessities. (“Must-have” items included a big bag of bite-sized chocolates, which I would secretly stash on a high shelf in the pantry in the event of Snowpocalypse. Hashtag mommy survival kit.)

I grabbed a shopping cart at the entrance and raced through aisles, picking up about a dozen more . . . a-hem . . . “necessities.”

At the checkout, the clerk gave me my total amount due. I handed her my credit card, and only then did I remember what I came for: Laundry detergent. It wasn’t even on the grocery conveyor belt!

I’d forgotten what I actually needed, because I was distracted by everything I thought I must have.

It hit me, right then, how forgetful I am — how I lose sight of the main thing, because of all the side distractions.

I’m not proud to admit that my forgetfulness happens in my spiritual life, not just at the grocery store.

You, too?

Here we all are, wherever we are, on this grand globe called Earth. We’ve been sent here for purposes set for us long ago. And in reality, we need One Thing most of all. (Hint: It’s not laundry detergent or chocolate, and His name starts with the letter “J.”)

We know we need Him first and foremost, but we get distracted by everything else.

Truth is, we really do want God with all of our heart. We really do put Him at the top of our lists. But we chronically miss Him anyway — because of distraction, chaos and even because of our own pain.

For some of you, the pain is real. For you, this is a really hard time of year. Maybe your extended family can’t manage to sit down for one holiday meal without a conflict erupting. It’s two weeks until Christmas, but many of us know there will loved ones missing from the table. We can fairly predict who will be glaring at who over the water goblets, and who will be dealing with some really difficult stuff. Maybe that someone is you.

Our pain can break our communion with God.

Our distractions can break our communion with God.

Even our well-meaning busy-ness can break our communion with God.

Here’s the good news we need to know: even when we’ve broken communion with God, He doesn’t break communion with us. He enters into our brokenness, and restores communion.

And that’s what Christmas is all about — the restoration of all the broken things.

Jesus totally gets your chaos. He totally gets your brokenness. He doesn’t turn His back on the mess. He enters into it.

This is His Christmas — His chaotic, messy, holy, no-room-for-you-in-the-inn, born-in-a-barn Christmas. Imagine the pain of labor. The itch of hay. The stench of beast. This is God, incarnate, coming into our broken world, into our broken hearts.

If you’re feeling messy this season, you are in a pretty elite club, and it is chaired by the Son of God who entered into your mess on purpose.

Christmas is Jesus, saying the unflinching, remarkable YES for you — no matter what has you hurting or distracted. Jesus is your forever YES.

Even when we break communion. Even when we get distracted. Even when it’s messy. Even when we forget.

That day at the store, I ran back to the detergent aisle while the clerk waited patiently for me — along with a long line of people who were standing behind me.

In the end, I got what I needed that day. We even wore clean clothes to church.

Like that patient clerk, God is waiting for us. But unlike that clerk, He doesn’t expect us to pay the bill. He covered it for us.

I’m so grateful for our Jesus, who entered into this mess down here. He went out on a pretty big limb for us, you know? Sometimes, I forget that. Even when I forget, He won’t. It’s His promise:

“But even if mothers forget, I’d never forget you — never.” {Isaiah 49:15, MSG}

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This is what Christmas is all about—the restoration of all the broken things. {Tweet this!}

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