An Unhurried Holiday Season

This episode contains portions from the following programs:

"The Value of Rest"

"Why Christmas Music Matters"

"Night and Day"

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Dannah Gresh: Ever watched the Christmas classic, Home Alone? 

Picture the MacAllister family prepping for their big family trip to Paris. Except . . . the morning they’re supposed to head to the airport, the parents wake up and and scream, “We slept in!”

Chaos ensues—kids, parents, aunts, and uncles hustling and bustling here and there with suitcases and bags to rush out the door, some still wearing pajamas. The next thing you know they’re sprinting through O’hare terminal 3 to the festive sound of “Run, Run Rudolph.”

What a classic scene. Hilarious! Festive! And . . . maybe just a little too relatable.

Because let’s be honest for a second. Even if you’re not winding through holiday airport crowds with eleven kids in tow, could it be that the state of your heart reflects the chaos of this iconic movie moment?

I’m your host, Dannah Gresh. You’re listening to Revive Our Hearts Weekend.

If I’m not careful, I’m going to make a true-life Home Alone movie of my own this year. I told my husband recently, “This house will glow with the lights of more Christmas bulbs than it ever has.” I got my grandbabies involved the first weekend of November putting up a tree. You see, my mother-in-law is grieving the loss of my father-in-law this year. She says the darkness just really feels extra thick this year. Hopefully she’ll be with us for most of the month in December. So, problem solver that I am: CHRISTMAS LIGHTS.

But, what if the solution isn’t to hurry and rush through the commercialism of Christmas, including the lights. What if the real solution to it all is to simply slow down and feel the hush of the darkness so we’re called to worship the True Light of the World?

[Pause. Silence.]

Slow down with me, friend.

Consider today’s episode an invitation to take a deep breath. Dr. Shona Murray, Kristyn Getty, Portia Collins, and Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth will all help us pause and quiet our hearts.

First, Shona Murray is the mother of five children, a medical doctor, and the author of Refresh: Embracing a Grace-Paced Life in a World of Endless Demands. She shared some advice for busy women like her—and you and me—in a conversation with Nancy. Ever heard of a “she hour”? Here’s Shona to define that for you. 

Shona Murray: The “she hour,” essentially, is a period of time in the day when you are alone. I don’t include in that, specifically, your devotional time. So for me, for example, my devotional time is first thing in the morning before the kids are up.

Because once kids are up . . . For a lot of moms of young kids, unfortunately, the kids will get up before them, so that’s not going to happen for them. The “she hour” may, then, be a time when they can do their devotions or it might be later when dad’s home. But the “she hour” itself, is really . . .

Nancy: And for those who are missing, with the accent, we’re saying, “she hour.”

Shona: The “she hour” comes from the concept of “she shed.” There’s an article that David and I came across recently where this lady had literally built a shed in her yard. She would go every day for an hour so. She made it and painted it the way she wanted so that she felt calm and relaxed and the world shut out. She did whatever she wanted to do to relax in there. The key thing was that she was alone, undistracted.

We don’t need to build one of these, but we can have our own she shed. We can have a she shed in employment. You can use your lunch hour to get away from everybody else and just to be in quiet and silence.

You can do the same as a student—get away from your classes, your friends, your professors, just for some quiet in the day. Mums, especially with young children . . .

Nancy: . . . are going to say, “There’s no such thing!”

Shona: . . . are going to say, “I have no time for a she-shed! She shed . . . what’s that? She time . . . what’s that?” But I would say to you, you really need it, because you’re going to benefit from it, and your kids are going to benefit from it.

Children will do well if they learn to entertain themselves for one hour in the day—at least. You shouldn’t feel guilty about it. It’s actually self-preservation, and it’s injecting fuel into your relationship with your kids and helping them thrive, too.

What does it look like? Primarily, you’re alone—no distractions. If the kids are small . . . I used to have a bedroom gate on their bedroom. The kids play on the other side of that in their room. I might be in my bedroom next door. I can hear what’s going on, but they’re not getting over there, and I don’t need to go over there unless something terrible is happening.

So you can read—and I love reading—and read in an undistracted way. 

It can include listening to sermons, listening to good music—devotional music. It can involve anything that is, not necessarily spiritual, but is a God-given gift which is given to be enjoyed. But only each individual knows best what helps them relax. The point is that you set the time aside and do it.

I think just sometimes sitting and listening to quiet. The phone switched off, that is key. So messages . . .

Nancy: Scrolling through Facebook feed or Instagram, that’s not . . .

Shona: You can do it, but it’s not going to rest your mind. If you’re like me, you’ll find that suddenly you click on an email, and you think, Oh, I really should reply to that just now,” and before I know it, my she hour is gone because I’ve gotten on there. And I get a ping notification, a message from someone and, “Oh, I’d better do that now; I’ll forget.”

Off the phone goes. It works best if you switch your phone off for an hour. The world is not going to stop.

One of the things that is a challenge is realizing, “Really, the world will get on just fine for an hour without me.”

Nancy: And we will get along better if we’ve been without the world for an hour!

Shona: We will be refreshed, and we will hear God’s voice in the quiet. 

So, it’s endless. It really is what do you find is the most effective way to relax and unwind?

Dannah: Shona Murray on taking an hour to get alone, be still before the Lord, and recharge. That’s a habit I practice each morning, rising early to be in the stillness. And this time of year, it's also the darkness. I want to push reset on my heart and focus on what matters: Jesus and His Word.

When that gets cut, something’s out of order!

You know, one of my favorite ways to quiet my heart this time of year is through Christmas music. I've been soaking in songs extra early this year. 

Kristyn Getty is a singer and modern hymn writer. Part of the dynamic duo that is The Gettys. She and her husband Keith have four precious daughters. Not too long ago, she sat down with Revive Our Heart’s own Portia Collins to talk about why Christmas music matters in the middle of our holiday hustle and bustle. Let’s listen.

Portia Collins: All right, let's jump straight in. Of course, we know that Christmas is about Christ. But I find that too often many of us fall into the Christmas commercialization trap. We get wrapped up in (no pun intended) the presents and the food and all the whimsical things. But I want to know in what ways do you think Christmas hymns convey powerful theological truths? And how do these truths resonate with people during the holiday season?

Kristyn: You're absolutely right. Christmas, especially for moms often just means pressure and an awful lot of noise. And actually, this true story of Christmas was to bring us relief, and to bring that peace, to give us moments to sort of step out of the busyness of our life and to focus on the Lord. He is beyond all of these things. He steps into this craziness and steps into the darkness and brings us this light. 

And so, wherever we are, whatever we're going through, and how much we have or don't have. Those aren't actually the main questions. All of us are invited into this place. I think singing brings a unique way to remember these things. It's a special gift given to us. I think we need to reorganize our thoughts when it comes to singing and the depths of the gift that it is sending our memories in such a great way. 

It helps compile a bunch of great ideas that really has less to really organize our thoughts. Singing is a wonderful way for us to organize our thoughts and to fill our minds with the things that truly matter this season. And to also share it with other people singing, it invites all of us to sing this together. 

Some of the best hymns that the Church has are the carols of Christmas, because they do distill beautifully in the best poetry of what we are truly celebrating at Christmas. 

They bring such a warm heritage to us as well. Some of these carols have been carefully preserved generation after generation. It's our great privilege to get to share in that and to say it and then to sing it with our children.

Portia: Yeah, absolutely. I love that. How do you think hymns can be a vehicle for sharing the gospel?

Kristyn: Well, every culture has its music, and every culture shares its history and its values through the songs that they sing. I think it's really helpful when we look at the congregation that we consider what is it that we're singing? What is it we're actually saying about the gospel, about the truth of who God is, and about why it's important and how it impacts our lives. 

And so, I think a wonderful place to begin when it comes to thinking beyond the Church and the many places around the world that are unreached, that we're actually singing a clear picture of the gospel, and using our voices to do that. Not just to tell what it is, but the very act of our voices joining together. The unity of that purpose is very compelling and very moving when people see that. 

We also live in a time where someone can write a song in Nashville, and that can be heard in all the corners of the world that evening by technology. We talk so often about the drawbacks, and yet, and so much given as well. We know that the power of Christian radio and the power of music get behind a lot of walls that other things can't get beyond and get to the unreached and dark parts of the world. Music can actually do that. 

It’s a really exciting time to be alive and to be a believer and to be a hymn writer and be able to sing and share music and see it just travel all around the world. It is incredible.

Portia: Yeah, absolutely. You know, Christmas hymns, I really love those because I've found that they often highlight our reliance on God's grace. Most hymns do, but I just think about so many that we sing. “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” and just waiting and crying before the Lord. 

And so, I would love if you could share your thoughts on how hymns during the Christmas season reinforce this particular aspect of our Christian faith, being that we have to rely on God that we look to Him, that we wait on Him?

Kristyn: Absolutely, I think some of what the best carols do, and the best hymns do, is they lead us to the bigger storyline. We gather in our homes, the things that we're concerned about, all of these things—violent things—that the Lord sees and cares, and He’s with us. That's incredible. I think part of the relief and joy of being a believer is that we are lifted out of the small little stories and brought into the grand narrative that is God's redemption story that is so masterfully woven through all of history. 

I think that is why some of the carols do such a fantastic job of doing that, bringing us into that big story and lifting us up to a new place and reminding us that God is in control of all things, and the perfect timing of the unfolding of this salvation story. Oh the joy and privilege it is for us to be part of it, and our role in the kingdom to live it and to share it. 

And that is I often think of people coming into church on Sunday morning or whenever they come. We come so burdened and often quite bruised by everything. One of the bruising is the shrinking of our lives, to leave little small spaces. I love when at church Sunday morning, when we all feel that, and we walk through the singing of the gospel. We walk through the remembering of who He is, and what we're actually called to. It just opens up the windows, doesn't it? It just lets some light in. We leave different people. 

I think that music helps us do that when we're there. But these melodies and poetry linger in our minds, and they go with us as we go out. They help keep reframing how we’re meant to see things. 

Portia: Yeah, absolutely. Everything you have just said is so, so good, especially as someone like me who loves music. I love hymns. I'm not opposed to contemporary music. In fact, it's increasingly prevalent nowadays. But I also value traditional hymns, particularly traditional Christmas hymns. And so, one thing that I want to know is how are you and Keith teaching traditional Christmas music or traditional hymns to your four girls?

Kristyn: We did a little thing called the Family Hymn of the Month with our girls. So, throughout the year, we highlighted a hymn each month, which takes them through the story behind it, and a little devotional. It's nothing fancy. 

Our five-year-old latches on a little bit differently than our twelve-year-old, but we just sort of have it playing in the background before they go to sleep. We talk about the words just as a way to try and keep filling them up with songs that they might be able to carry with them for life. 

And this Christmas, one of the songs that we're doing is “Let Our Mortal Flesh Keep Silence.” So, we're just starting to teach that to them. And that song, some of the earliest manuscripts of that particular hymn come from the third century, but more specifically the sixth century. It's just extraordinary to think of just the hundreds of years with old hymns being sung. 

And what I love about this one is that the theme of it is one of reverence and wonder, one of slowing down, being a little more quiet, and really considering what is not just happy thoughts, what is not just a way to get warm feelings. But it's actually a glorious rescue beyond all imagining that God would step into our sinful world as our Savior. How can we become just so small? 

The lyric I would encourage everyone to go and find it “let our mortal flesh keep silent and with fear and trembling, stand; ponder nothing earthly minded.” At the verse two it goes after just the power and magnitude of Him bursting into this earth, and that the powers of hell may vanish as the darkness clears away. It's just the big, big words, big ideas. 

I want that to be in their little minds and hearts to know if they're lifted to something greater than just lovely the twinkling lights and presents. I use the hymns in that way to help bring them peace, to help bring them wonder, and just to help lift little hearts to something.

Portia: I love that. Thank you for being with us. Now, I’ve got one more quick question. I think this is gonna be the way to close out our time together. Can you just sing just a little bit of “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” for us this morning?

Kristyn: I can. 

Hark! The herald angels sing,
"Glory to the new-born king.”

Portia: Merry Christmas. 

Dannah: That’s Portia Collins with Kristyn Getty. To hear more of Kristyn’s angelic voice, you can search for Keith and Kristyn Getty on your favorite music streaming platform. You’ll love their rich and beautiful Christmas songs that focus on Jesus!

To wrap up our time together, Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth is gonna tell us about one of the most unhurried women in Scripture. Her name was Anna, and for eighty-four years, she was content to wait in the temple for the arrival of one special person. Here’s Nancy in Luke chapter 2.

Nancy: We read in verse 36:

There was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years [she was an elderly woman] having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, and then as a widow for eighty-four years. (vv. 36–37)

That is the translation that some of you have, and I think that is the preferred translation. So here’s a woman who may have been in excess of one hundred years of age.

She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. And coming up at that very hour . . .

What very hour? The hour when Simeon came up, the hour when Mary and Joseph came with the baby Jesus to dedicate and present him to God. “Coming up at that very hour.” What is implied here is that she was led by the Spirit to do so.

Coming up at that very hour, she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem. (vv. 37–38)

I want to focus today on that phrase in verse 37: “She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day.” Here’s a woman who consistently, regularly participated in all the services, whether day or night—a women who spent her waking hours worshiping in the temple.

She loved the place where God’s presence and God’s glory dwelt. In the Old Testament, that was in the temple. That was where the Shekina glory of God was—the presence of God. She loved to be where God was, and she loved to be where the people of God were. She loved the people of God. Here’s a woman who had a heart and a hunger for the things of God.

Today, the presence of God is not limited to the temple or to a church building. The Church is us. If this woman had been in the New Testament era, it would have said that she loved to be with the people of God. She loved to be where people were talking about the things of God in the presence of God

Now, as this woman was in the temple a lot, surely she saw the same things Jesus would see in later years as He grew to become an adult. He would go in and decry the hypocrisy in the temple, the materialism, the playing of games, the going through motions.

Here’s a woman who knew God and knew Him well, who communed with God and walked with Him for many years. Surely she discerned these things in the temple—the hypocrisy, the meaningless rituals, people giving their money and worshiping God with their mouths and their lips, but with their hearts far from Him.

Surely there must have been much going on in the temple that grieved her as it would grieve Jesus. She must have seen the money changing going on, the people making a profit off of religion.

Surely these things would have bothered her. And undoubtedly, these issues became the basis for much of this woman’s earnest praying. She became an intercessor as she saw these things going on that troubled God’s heart. They troubled her heart.

That spoke to me as I was studying this because about some people today who see what's going on in the church. They see the hypocrisy; they see the issues; they see the vain worship; they see the shallow profession of faith without a lot of life to back it up. In many cases, they become critical, or they become disillusioned. In a lot of cases, they just drop out of church. They say, "I've had it. These people are hypocrites. This is not real. This is not genuine. This is shallow. This is fake. This isn't the real thing." They become critical, disillusioned and give up.

Here's a woman who saw it all going on, but she kept going. She kept participating in the services. She kept praying. "Lord, hasten the day when Jesus comes; when the Redeemer comes. Bring the redemption of Jerusalem." She was waiting along with a handful of others for the consolation of Israel, for the redemption of Jerusalem. 

You will never find a perfect church. You will never find anything close to it. You will never find a group of believers who are without their faults and failures and frailties. But the question is, do you love them as God does? Do you pray for them? Do you continue to participate saying, "Lord, please do a work of grace in this place."

She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. 

Some of your translations say she “served God with fastings and prayers night and day” (NKJV).

The word that’s translated here "worshiping" in my translation—or she "served" God, in some other translations—it’s translated variously because it means both of those things.

It’s a word that means "to minister to God, to worship Him by serving Him, to actively serve the Lord." Here’s a woman who, at her elderly age—at least eighty-four, maybe 104—was not even thinking about retirement, but was actively serving the Lord.

She worshiped God. She served the Lord with fasting and prayer. Now, the way she served Him at 104 may have looked different than the way she served Him when she was a wife or as a teenager.

There are different seasons of life, and the way that some of you—as homeschooling moms or mothers of preschoolers or mothers of teenagers—the way that you’re serving the Lord in that season of life may look different than the way you will serve the Lord when you’re an empty-nester. The way that you, as married women, serve the Lord will look different than the way you may serve as a widow. 

But her heart was to serve the Lord as an act of worship.

Dannah: Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth on the patient, expectant heart of Anna. When that first Christmas finally came, she wasn’t distracted. She wasn’t rushing through life. She wasn’t sprinting toward retirement. No—she was in the temple fasting, praying, serving, and worshiping because she wanted to see the Savior. And so my question for you is this: Are you still enough to see Jesus—really see him—this Christmas? Or is a sense of holiday hurry keeping you from the temple—from worshiping and serving Jesus? 

Oh, I know your reasons for the busy-ness are good. It’s a good thing that I want to snuff out the darkness for my grieving mother-in-law. But maybe, the solution is just to sit in the darkness with her . . . instead of being busy. What if I can do more good by giving more of me. And helping her find more of Jesus than I ever could decking the halls with boughs of holly and Christmas lights?

Think about that. As a daughter-in-law, daughter, mother, grandma; slow down. Let’s be careful we’re not getting in the way of having them gaze at the Light of the World‚ our dear Jesus!

At Revive Our Hearts, we’re so grateful to come alongside you as you follow Jesus. Listeners often tell us how this ministry has helped them fix their eyes on Christ in the chaos of everyday life. One Portuguese-speaking sister said this:

With each episode, I’ve been led to believe more deeply in the work of Christ and to draw closer and closer to His truth—with a grateful heart, as Nancy always reminds us. I had asked God, “Lord, give me zeal, wonder for Your sacrifice. I’ve heard it for so many years, but my heart doesn’t burn when I hear these truths.” But thanks be to God, by following several of your programs, I’ve been dedicating myself to reflect on and to be in awe of Christ’s sacrifice. Sisters, this ministry is splendid! I can’t stop sharing everything I’ve been learning and telling others how much of a blessing it’s been for me. 

I love that! We praise God for the testimony of this listener and countless like her! Do you believe in the ministry of Revive Our Hearts? Would you like to partner us to reach women with the life-changing truth of the gospel? If so, the month of December is the perfect time to do that! 

Historically, this is when we receive almost half our funding for the upcoming year. And, get this . . . right now in the month of December, when you make a donation of any amount, some faithful friends of the ministry will match that dollar for dollar, up to a total of $1.5 million. That means your gift will be multiplied. 

That money will go toward projects like the upcoming Wonder app—a space for teen girls to slow down, stop their scroll, and soak in the wonderful truths of God’s Word. When you give, you’re making an investment in the next generation.

If you’re like me and this is something that gets you excited, then here’s how you can help. Visit ReviveOurHearts.com/donate to make a gift. We really need the Lord to help us reach this goal so that it can be possible to provide another year of ministry outreach for you and women all across the globe. So, we're feeling a little dependent on the Lord, as we always do this time of year, so another thing you can do is join us in prayer.

And I do want to stop and say "thank you" if you've already given and already been praying with us. Thank you! You are such a blessing to us!

Well friend, come back next weekend. We’ll explore the wonder that the Word was made flesh and came to dwell among us. 

Thanks for listening today. I’m Dannah Gresh. We’ll see you next time for Revive Our Hearts Weekend.

This program is a listener-supported production of Revive Our Hearts in Niles, Michigan, calling women to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ.

“Run Run Rudolph (Instrumental Track),” BP Studio Musicians, Backtracks Professional Karaoke: Christmas Favorites, Vol. 4 ℗ 2008 BP Inc.

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