"Do Not be Moved Away..."

I've been pondering the arising busy-ness that this time of year offers. Not only pondering it, but strategizing how to resist it as well. Longing to savor the gift of a Babe, the victory not just of the cross but of the manger, and the journey, MY journey, that began at Bethlehem. And then my eyes stumble across this verse by morning's light: "...and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven..." (Col. 1:23b). That's what busy-ness threatens to do! It threatens, tempts, beckons me to be 'moved away from the hope of the gospel', to be moved away from the awestruck wonder of a manger-birthed, vernix-coated Savior of the World. He came by His choosing and His birth was the world's greatest sermon, preached to every creature. Oh, how I long to savor the incredible mystery of it all, even in the midst of sparkling lights and evergreen trees and festive events.