The world is busy today. People are scurrying around purchasing final gifts and gathering in grocery lines for meal preparations.
It’s a season often characterized by busy, though for good reasons. We anticipate gathering around the family table, exchanging gifts, and hearing the Christmas story. We add to it more fun: watching Christmas movies, decorating gingerbread houses, and driving around to look at lights.
And, yet, inside some of our hearts life doesn’t feel so magical. Circumstances have made us question if hope lives and crawling under the covers feels far more attractive than the activity around us.
I’ll never forget a Christmas Eve when a friend of mine was longing for a baby of her own. This was an experience we shared, so I showed up on her doorstep with her favorite coffee and the words of Isaiah 9:6 written on the cup sleeve.
Wonderful Counselor I will listen and guide
Mighty God I am bigger than anything you face and can redeem it all
Everlasting Father You are mine and I am yours, always
Prince of Peace In me, your heart will find rest
Jesus came to live among us not to eliminate pain and confusion from our lives but to free us from being bound by it. His birth is the promise we need and propels celebrating through our circumstance. Hope is ours.
So, no matter where you find yourself on this busy day or how you spend tomorrow, I encourage you to seek out a church service to hear for the first time or be reminded of this One who loves you and will see you through today, tomorrow, and forever more.
Merry Christmas, friends! It’s been a gift to meet you in this new space this year.
xx Melissa
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