Lexi Shipp is a passionate writer, speaker, and Bible teacher. With a Bachelors in Religion and Masters in Human Services Counseling, both specified in Christian Ministry, Lexi loves serving alongside her husband doing Next Gen Ministry. Working with middle and high school girls for years, she has a heart for connecting all generations of women and championing the next generation for the cause of Christ – starting within her own home as a mom. Lexi serves as a regular LifeWay Girls blogger and the Communications Team Lead for the SBC of Virginia’s Women’s Ministry. To read more of Lexi’s writings or to book her as a speaker, connect with her on Instagram @alexisleeshipp.
When you are in the season of parenting (or grand parenting, aunting, uncling, etc…) little ones, there is a portion of your life that becomes very strategic.
One cold, early December day, that strategy for me was putting my little ones in the car and driving around to see what Christmas inflatables we could find. A “Christmas Inflatable Hunt”, if you will…(Could become a core memory, really started off as a way for all of us to reset in the middle of our day.)
As I drove my very sophisticated, always-said-I-would-never, mom-mobile of a mini-van around, I noticed something. Because I had no real end destination to my driving, I lacked what seemed like intention. Purpose. Direction.
The cars surrounding our van began driving around me so that they could pass by in order to continue on to their destination with more determination than what I held.
Immediately, I considered how the same concept is true for us spiritually. When we recognize that this world is not our final destination, that there is life after death, that the main prize for which we should be living is Christ, His glory, and eternity with Him – it gives us intention, purpose, and direction. When we know in confidence where we are going, we walk in confidence. When we do not know where we are going, we tend to wander aimlessly, most likely in directions that do not matter in the long run.
Are we living for heaven?
In the midst of this Christmas season, are we keeping our focus on what will never fade away?
Are we walking confidently and with purpose because we know the destination we are trekking toward?
The sobering, yet beautiful and glorious reality is this: everything in this world is temporary – but because Jesus came, we can spend forever with Him instead of separated from Him. And at the end of it all – the hardest days, darkest moments, most unfathomable circumstances, the overwhelming joy, the overstimulating chaos, the unimaginable gifts…when we’re finished with ornament exchanges, unwrapping presents, eating too many cookies, wearing out our favorite Christmas tunes…the nagging feeling begging for more than the temporal will still reside deep within us, because we were made for more. For the purest form of fellowship with the Father and dwelling with HIm.
May the breath taking reality of Christ coming to rescue us – of there being more than this world – of temporal things not being eternal – be the peace our hearts need in this season and every season.
