“Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran. And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep….Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, ‘Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.’ And he was afraid and said, ‘How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.’”  Genesis 28:10-11, 16-17

Each year around November 28, at some point during the middle stages of Thanksgiving weekend (usually with my fork in mid-air as I take another bite of leftover pumpkin or pecan pie), my thoughts begin to race to the tune of Carol of the Bells.  And they go something like this: “It’s Christmas time. You’re so behind. Get off your rear.  Get into gear.  Address Christmas cards.  Wrap Christmas gifts.  Find the perfect gift that brings your mom to tears.  Hurry Hurry Hurry, it is Christmas.  Do not stop to sleep, it is Christmas.  You are so behind, it is Christmas!!!” 

And until the last gift has been unwrapped on December 25, we have made the annual pilgrimage to Brenham to my in-laws’ farm, and I have sunk wearily onto the couch to try to enjoy the last vestiges of the day, that song plays through my head more often than it should.  To be honest, the Christmas season feels more like a rat race than a hallowed pondering of my Savior’s birth.

But that is what it should be: a hallowed pondering.  A sacred pause throughout the entire Advent season to consider Christ.  To reflect upon the beauty of His Person, the Greatness of His Gift, and the Awesomeness of His Humility.  Gift buying, Christmas card addressing, friend-visiting, and party-going should all play second fiddle to the tune of mystery and majesty that rings through the cosmos each and every day.

But how does one make that happen in a very real, fast-paced Christmas season?  I have heard the Biblical character (and he is a character, believe me) Jacob described as the most post-modern man in the Old Testament.  His whole life is spent searching for his identity and the approval of his father.  He is a seeker, a swindler, a runner, a fugitive, and finally, he is a man who encounters God.  Or, rather, God encounters Jacob smack dab in the middle of his running, and Jacob is never the same. 

At one of the lowest points of his life, exiled from his family, a man on the run, with nothing to his name except the clothes on his body and the rock under his head posing as a pillow, Jacob falls into a restless sleep and dreams.  And in his dream, God appears to him as a ladder reaching to heaven upon which the angels are ascending and descending.  The ladder is none other than a picture of the pre-Incarnate Christ Himself, and Jacob realizes, when he awakes, what he has seen is the very gate to heaven. 

Jacob was a privileged dreamer.  In the thousands of years before His birth, no one else saw the picture of Christ as the ladder and the gate quite like Jacob did.  But you and I are different.  Through the pages of Scripture and with the help of the Holy Spirit, you and I are able to see Christ, the ladder, the door, and the gate to the very House of God each and every day.  This is what Christ meant when He said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture” (John 10:7-9). 

So each and every day, stop.  Open Scripture.  Pray.  And pause to ponder the reality of Christ who came to earth as the very door to the House of God, to the House where He has gone to prepare a place for all of those who love Him and call upon His Name.  The rush and rat-race of Christmas will continue in the world around us, but our response is to go to the very Door of Life, lift its handle, and enter in.  The Father Himself is waiting.