Lifelong Lessons

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A 19th-century Quaker who grew up in Philadelphia and taught alongside her husband throughout England during the great Holiness Movement, wrote that “The last and greatest lesson that the soul has to learn is the fact that God and God alone, is enough for all its needs.  This is the lesson that all His dealings with us are meant to teach; and this is the crowning discovery of our whole Christian life.” (Hannah Whitall Smith) We talked about this in our small group, how it is a lifelong lesson that we learn the hard way: by hanging onto all the wrong things and finding out how far they fall short to give us what we need….and how growing in Christ means learning over and over again that we can depend on Him for all of life.

It is the same journey of exploration that the Wise King wrote about in Ecclesiastes, where he chronicles his own search for something that would fill up his longings and make his life worthwhile. King Solomon’s conclusion (after experiencing life to the extent that only the most wealthy and powerful can), was succinct: “That’s the whole story. Here now is my final conclusion: Fear God and obey his commands, for this is everyone’s duty.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13) In every generation wise men have come to the same conclusion. St Augustine in the fourth century said in childlike surrender at age 33, “…Thou madest us for Thyself, and our heart is restless, until it repose in Thee.”  Blaise Pascal, the brilliant scientist-philosopher of 17th century France, penned the now-famous line that “There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled with any created thing, but only by God the Creator….” And around the same time, in England, an august assembly of theologians was developing the catechism for the Church of England which begins: “Man’s chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy him forever.”

This week as we talked about the simple truth and freedom of being a created being in the loving care of the Creator, we realize how seductive is the lie that I can (and should) do it on my own. Self-sufficiency stunts my ability to trust God, and cripples me in my relationships with others. It makes me wonder, if God’s all-sufficiency is the last and greatest lesson we learn as followers of Christ, what is the first and least lesson? Immediately the words of the little song came to mind– the very first song about Jesus that I learned as a toddler. “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” It made me smile to realize we are still teaching children that same starting-place. We are given the first fundamental truth that He loves us and the crowning lesson that He is enough for us, and a lifetime in between to discover that there are no limits to either.

We who follow Christ are all being led along the same path toward satisfying our soul-thirst, and Jesus’ words to the Samaritan woman linger in our hearts: “…but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:14)

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I stand before You now–
The greatness of your renown;
I have heard of the majesty and wonder of You.
King of Heaven, in humility, I bow.
As Your love, in wave after wave
Crashes over me, crashes over me.
For You are for us–
You are not against us.
Champion of Heaven,
You made a way for all to enter in.
I have heard You calling my name;
I have heard the song of love that You sing.
So I will let You draw me out beyond the shore
Into Your grace….

You Make Me Brave, Amanda Cook

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He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?

Romans 8:32

Getting At the Heart of The Matter

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Talking this week about something Oswald Chambers pointed out, how the sin nature is not so much about our doing wicked things, as it is about Self-sufficiency. He said that allowing Self to control and shape my world can either drive me to chaos and sin or it can drive me to a standard of doing good.  Two very different outcomes from the same root. And regardless of which way it falls– how it looks on the outside and whether others approve or not– it’s what is underneath that matters in the end. The Wise King Solomon warned us about that very thing: “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.” (Psalm 127:1)

See, we get quite distracted by what we can observe and evaluate on the outside, and it is too easy to substitute what we can do, for what we need God to do. That’s how good people can be seduced by their own capabilities and never realize just how hollow it all is. We can soak in the songs and the sermons, and enjoy the people of God, and then go live the days in our planners. Maybe ask for a prayer or two when we hit a rough patch. Or kick it up a notch and get involved in ministry, even– it is the right thing to do, after all, and we feel good about helping others. This approach works a good bit of the time from a practical standpoint. In the meantime only God can tell that we are living on our own strength. He can see how much we need it all to work out, because our own self-image is at stake; and how the further it goes, the more afraid we are of losing what we are building.

Till the storm crashes in and what we can do is no longer enough…or circumstances take us somewhere we never intended to be…or any time God bumps up against our preconceived ideas of what He is like and what He intends to do. The older brother in Jesus’ parable never dreamed that it was his own attitude that would bear examining, when the prodigal returned home seeking forgiveness. Mind you, God will do everything He needs, to shake you to the core and bring you face-to-face with the darkness lurking there; Chambers calls it “the discipline of dismay.” There is a built-in rejection of the Lover of our Souls in all of us– in some it is an outright defiance, and in some, it is a quiet desire to “do it myself.” Either way, it is the root problem that needs to be dealt with.

When God refuses to be neatly boxed and tagged, what is our response? Do we sulk and storm and feel like He has let us down? Or can we work through the disappointment and doubt on our knees, in order to find out what He is doing and what He wants of us here? Like Erwin Lutzer says: “It does little good for us to object to what He chooses to do. When He said to Moses, ‘I AM that I AM’ He in effect said ‘I am who I am and not Who you would prefer Me to be’. “

And when Self finally gives up trying to control this corner of the world, maybe I will see that it was never mine to rule…and discover that God is far more than I could ever want or need. He is the only everlasting foundation to build a life on, and only the things rooted in Him will be balanced and whole. The Church-Planter gets downright cranky about the thought of us living any other way: “How foolish can you be? After starting your new lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort? Have you experienced so much for nothing?” (Galatians 3:3-4)

Guess it’s the kind of lesson we need to learn over and over. And maybe this too is God’s severe mercy, that will never let us be satisfied with less than Himself.

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“Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” Job 13:15

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“Cause all I know is
Everything I have means nothing
Jesus if You’re not my one thing
Everything I need right now
All I need is You right now
Just one thing I ask and this
I will seek If only to know You
To be where You are and go where You lead
My God I will follow.”
(One Thing, Hillsong)

The Weight of Glory

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A mother bears all this weight. Of love that was born with the swell of her changing body. Of responsibility that flooded over, the moment she accepted this fragile bundle into her arms for the first time, and felt the tug of helpless need and the certainty that another life would be shaped by her own. Of fierce protection that rises from nowhere to transform even the meek into warriors. Of fear and worry and care crashing down with the realization that the world is not a safe place– so many things a woman cannot control– and it’s one thing to swim for your own life, but another to send a babe afloat into the unknown. It’s humbling to bend under this weight of motherhood. It could be crushing, if you had to carry it alone.

Bowing down under all this weight is where I learned how big is the One who carries me. Because if I cannot trust Him fully to carry me, and bring me safely Home, how can I trust Him to carry my precious little ones, and do all things well for them? Despite the weight, there is peace in knowing that “underneath are the Everlasting Arms.” (Deuteronomy 33:27)

Bowing down under all this weight teaches you to shape worries into prayers, and moments into growth opportunities for both of you. Under this weight you learn to feel God’s love and forgiveness and grace. Under this weight you learn just where your limitations and weaknesses lie, and learn to depend on the One who has none. “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary…” (Isaiah 40:31)…. at least enough to get through another day. And when the burden gets so heavy it is breaking your heart, that’s where a depth of worship can grow, when you learn to say “Blessed be the name of the Lord” through the tears. Sometimes it is miracle enough to “walk and not faint.”

So we keep on, because how could we ever stop? These children are woven from our own flesh and bone, and fill up our whole hearts. Mothers are meant to carry this weight, and to be carried by the Everlasting Arms, and He says the burden “is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” if we fasten our eyes on the things that are unseen and do not lose heart. (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)

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You will return all that’s been stolen–
There’s nothing that You can’t redeem.
And though the story’s still unfolding,
With everything I’ve seen
How could I not believe?
You are a promise keeper;
Your word will never fail.
My heart can trust You, Jesus;
I won’t be overwhelmed.
My eyes are gonna see
Miracles and victories–
You are a promise keeper,
And Your word will never fail.

Hope Darst

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He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.

Isaiah 40:11

Drawing a Picture of God

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It’s sad, really, how we let the circumstances shape our view of God. As if He had not already spent thousands of years revealing Himself in a myriad of tiny details and grand sweeping plans. As if He had not breathed Words into the hearts of men to speak to us in our own language, even wrapping Himself in flesh to walk among us– all so we could know Him.

And yet, serving gets difficult and we think “Maybe God doesn’t want me to do this any more.” Sickness hangs on and we say “God is punishing me.” Provision doesn’t come when we ask, and we wonder “Is God listening?…does He care about my need?” And before we realize it, we have looked at the circumstances and drawn our own outlines for who God is; framed Him in, with the small scope of our emotions and everyday experience. When I think about it that way, I see the deception from the Garden being acted out all over again, setting how we feel and what we see up higher than what God actually says. It’s just bad art to try to sketch an infinite Creator.

When serving gets difficult, God says, “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” (Colossians 3:17) When sickness lingers and prayers seem unanswered, God says, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned…but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.” (John 9:3) When needs pinch, and fear rises, God replies, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?” (Matthew 6:31) His power and provision are endless. His love more boundless than oceans. This is the picture Heaven draws of the Creator.

We could blame our faulty outlines on a fallen world: two plus two equals four, and doing good should be easy, and what I can see and feel is clearly real…it’s a blind reasoning that ignores the weight of Divine evidence to the contrary. But how frightening to see my mind conforming to the pattern of this world and ignoring Grace. Devastating to see into even well-meaning hearts, and find them fully planted in the center of the universe as if they had a right to be there. As if they had never read God’s own description of who He is, or at least had never let the words soak in deeper than skin.

God talks about that too, of course: “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?” (Jeremiah 17:9) He sees into all the twists and turns of my emotions and motivations quite clearly, and will show it to me if I really want to know, really want to change. The question is if I am willing to face up to His truth and trust what He is doing in my life. Can I let Him be unmeasurable and beyond understanding and not at all tame, because I know He is most deeply good? Times like this make me realize just how amazing His Grace is, and how very deep and wide and long is God’s love for us. Time to put down the inkpen and let Him do the drawing.

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A thousand times I’ve failed–
Still your mercy remains,
And should I stumble again,
I’m caught in your grace.

Everlasting, Your light will shine when all else fades;
Never ending, Your glory goes beyond all fame;
And the cry of my heart is to bring You praise
From the inside out, O my soul cries out….

Inside Out, Hillsong

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The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
    and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

Proverbs 9:10

Just to Make God Smile

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It was an innocent enough question, tossed out into the discussion in a small group, half for fun and half out of curiousity….until it was coming around the circle and it was my turn and the question was sticking in my throat: What does God like about you? Not the things you do but who you are, and that’s the problem right there, when you know for sure that He loves you but you’ve never even considered that He may actually like you too. I choked out something that may have made sense, about the particular way He has made me, but all I could think of was how those same qualities are things people don’t like about me, so how could I imagine He would?

The question is still reverberating in me…What do You like about me, You who made the many-colored fishes in the deepest sea for Your eyes only, and the giraffe with the graceful neck and the ridiculous eyelashes, and the wombats and the wolverines, the lion king, and the little brown sparrow. Because if you made all of them, so varied and amazing in their differences down to the last detail, purely for Your enjoyment and ours, then You surely delight in all the different people You made too. What do you like about me?

These musings keep coming back to the starting place: “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” (Psalm 139:13-14) So if You made me just because You wanted me, then the details of who I am are all Your idea, Your craftsmanship. Not only loved, but delighted in….wonderful… and made on purpose. It’s not about how I see myself at all, but about Your delight. Granted, some of your creations are more humorous than noble, and some are downright ugly and strange, but even in them there is something You enjoy, as they live in Your world and respond to You as Creator.

I wonder how life would change if we could learn not to define ourselves with the opinions of others; not spend so much time trying to be happy and significant, doing our best to measure up, just to make it through this world in one piece. If we really had the deep sense that the reason we are here is to delight the heart of our Maker and respond to Him in pure devotion and thanksgiving. If we lived the way He made us… and just to make Him smile.

So what does God like about you?

…your heart of compassion for “the least of these”?
…your sense of humor?
…the way you can focus on a task and complete it well?
…that you love to cook for people and make them feel welcome?
…your willingness to help out wherever needed?
…your boldness to dream big?
…that you see and appreciate the beautiful things He has made?
….or?……..

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It’s all about You, Jesus,
And all this is for You,
For Your glory and Your fame,
It’s not about me,
As if You should do things my way;
You alone are God, and I surrender.

Kari Jobe

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See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!

1 John 3:1

What is Your Aim?

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Everyone loves the wit of motivational speaker Zig Ziglar’s famous saying, “If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time.”  That gets a chuckle, and maybe a rueful shake of the head even. Maybe it’s one of those sayings we’ve heard often enough that it seems trite, but that doesn’t lessen the truth of it. Those are powerful words, and sad ones if they describe a life…and if you are a Christ-follower, they are a warning.

By definition a Christ-follower has a purpose: to follow Christ through life. How that actually plays out in the everyday details might look vastly different for each person, but there will be remarkable similarities as well. Obedience. Compassion. Faithfulness. Service. Holiness. Patience. Joy. Self-control. Peace. Love. The apostle Paul chronicled his own walk as a follower: “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me His own.” (Philippians 3:12) We are aiming to be like Him, aiming to carry on His work, aiming to live face-to-face with Him when we are done here….not there yet, but in progress, and we can’t afford to get so caught up in today’s tangles that we forget what we are aiming for.  Paul’s nutshell of a goal: “so that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” (v.11)

Press on. There is no aimlessness there, no muddling about waiting for some big thing to happen, only determination to keep going one day at a time, one choice at a time, with the goal in mind. Following Christ through this world is not easy, and so it requires that kind of dedication to make it to the end– the bending of a life to one purpose that matters most, like anyone who is successful in achieving great things. The apostle Paul knew the kind of day-in-day-out attention it took to follow, and not get distracted: “But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.” (1 Corinthians 9:27)

Paul understood what was at stake, that we are at war with an Enemy who wants to destroy us all, and how the Adversary sings us to sleep with our eyes wide open to this world. Paul understood the priceless result of aiming for eternity…“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize! Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.” (1 Corinthians 9:24-25)

So we who are choosing to follow Christ know what to do with our lives. We will follow hard after Him, and listen to every word He says. We will aim for a life worthy of the Beloved One who saved us and calls us His own, and with His help we will set goals and make choices that will hit the mark. The power to transform belongs to the Spirit, but the power to choose Him day after day belongs to us alone. The result is a life beautiful, and Heaven waiting.

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The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather in a lack of will.

Vincent Lombardi

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Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.

Romans 8:5

Merry Christmas

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Life changes: children grow, people move on, circumstances shift– but God’s Beloved Son who came at Christmas remains unchanging. May the light of Christ shine in your heart and in your home this Christmas Day, and in the coming year.

Hallelujah, we’ve been found
A child is born to save us now
Hallelujah, light has come
A Savior who will set us free
A promise for those who believe.

Barlow Girl

Of Mothers and Mangers and Mirrors

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Decades ago I held my first child, a son, in the Winter months– born right at the beginning of the holiday season– and the Christmas Story came to life for me. That year I could enter into Mary’s experience as a young mother: her wonder, her fears, the myriad changes in her own flesh, and all these experiences new and strange, as if the whole world had suddenly been born new with her labor pains. And in the utterly down-to-earth flesh and blood of pregnancy and delivery and the physical needs of a newborn, the Incarnation of the Son of God was no longer a theological concept, but an Everyday reality. That the Almighty One of Heaven who spoke the worlds into being would enfold Himself into the waxy translucent skin of a newborn…just a small warm fragile body held snugly in a mother’s arms…was wonder beyond wonder.

And in the years that followed, my whole world shifted, tilted, redefined itself in unexpected ways, as I struggled to live out my faith as a stay-at-home wife and mother, discovering that the small messy places of life where we bend to serve others can become something sacred– an offering of worship to God– because the Eternal One stooped into Time and Space to submit to an ordinary woman’s care. One of Jesus’ friends would explain it this way, later: “This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him.” (1 John 4:9) 

Mary must have known well how much she would lose, in listening to that angel. Any woman can imagine what it meant to give up dreams of a wedding day, the approval of her friends and neighbors, the comfort of her family circle. But in bending to God’s will, Mary mirrored His own humility and love, and found unexpected treasures of the heart that beckon to all the women that have come since. Her song still rises: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for He has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name.” (Luke 1:46-49) God bent down to us at Christmas, to show us what True Love looks like, and when we bend down to serve others, we become His image-bearers, reflections of His heart.

This Winter I watch other young girls, and I look at the fresh young faces and wonder what roads lie ahead, see how hard it will be to listen to the right voices in this world– too many clamoring opinions about beauty and worth and meaning as a woman, and what makes a good life. I wish I could tell them, and all the young wives and mothers, that the best thing they can do with their lives is to live like Mary, to learn to say “yes” to God…to allow Him to shape them around His Son in the small things of Everyday Life.

There are so many goals and dreams to chase out there, but it is in Christ that we learn who we are, discover our true worth. It is in following Him one step at a time that we find our purpose. It will be ordinary and humbling, often invisible to others…and quite probably difficult. And we will become beautiful and extraordinary women, if we can listen and learn from Him. A sister-writer said it well: “A woman’s most sacred responsibility is to be so comfortable not just only in her own skin, but in being in Christ, in being shaped and formed like Christ, like the Cross…that she becomes more interested in the ways of Christ than in what others think of her — or what she thinks she wants.” (Ann VosKamp) It is a high calling, a privilege indeed, to be a woman made and defined by God.

This is Christmas that can last all year round: to wrap our arms and our hearts around each other and bear one another’s burdens, to become Love in flesh, for all the world to see, as our Savior did, once upon a time in Bethlehem.

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The most revolutionary thing a woman can do is not let anything but the Cross explain her life.

Ann VosKamp

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This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they’ve done to our relationship with God.

I John 4:10, The Message

Ordinary Miracles

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Sometimes we hear God’s voice in unexpected places. Just ask Moses. A blazing bush all afire with glory and a mission impossible coming straight from heaven’s throne…not your ordinary day with the sheep. My life seems so much less amazing, more slow-moving, filled with detours and distractions, and waiting for changes that seem long in coming. Some days I wish I could hear God that vividly and life-changingly.

But it occurs to me in this Advent season of waiting that it’s all a matter of perspective, because Moses spent forty years leading sheep around, day in and day out in that wilderness, occupied with the mind-numbingly everyday existence of water and grass, wool and lambs, getting married and raising a son. Decades of slow-moving days with only the ordinary sounds of life, that felt like waiting. But when he wrote it down later he was careful to note that “God saw the people of Israel– and God knew.” (Exodus 2:25)

In all those ordinary slow-moving days, God was there and God was at work to bring about His plans, listening to the cries of His people for deliverance. And when the time was right he spoke to the man He had prepared for the task and bullied him into doing it. Really. A man just as full of insecurities and fears as I am, who needed some pushing to get him going.

When Moses saw the bush on that one not-so-ordinary day he knew it was worth turning aside from his work to see, important enough to stop and listen. An impressive sight, certainly, but in the solitude of the open spaces under the stars and the changing seasons he had already seen the glory of God in a million everyday ways, listened to the wind and the thunder and the still small voice of God’s presence…and I wonder if he felt like he was waiting for deliverance too, if he recognized the bush for what it was: a fiery milestone of change in his life.

As I listen for God’s voice amid the everyday sounds of an ordinary life, let me remember that He is here and He knows. He is working out His plans, listening to the cries of His people, has a part for me to play if I will pay attention and not get distracted by the pull of media, and my desires, and chores needing done, and the answers I am waiting for. I can rest in knowing Him, and trust what He is doing. Because here in the everyday I am tuning my heart to His, bending to obey, and persevering to fill the purpose He has for me.

And if I can learn to hear God’s voice in the ordinary days, then when the Extraordinary blazes down from heaven, I will recognize it and be ready to follow any new path. Really, which is the larger miracle, that a bush can burn with glory in the desert?… or that God Himself speaks to me in the everyday, in the quiet spaces of my heart? Emmanuel, God with us…I am listening.

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It is amazing what the quiet holding of the soul before the Lord will do to the external and seemingly uncontrollable tumult around us. It is in that stillness that the Voice will be heard, the only voice in all the universe that speaks peace to the deepest part of us.

Elizabeth Elliot

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The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.

Lamentations 3:25

Ready for Christmas

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There’s nothing that lights up brokenness like the twinkling lights of Christmas. ‘Tis the season to be jolly…with Pinterest-decked-out halls, and the family in matching pajamas on the front of your cards, and your shopping definitely finished by the third week of December. But let’s be honest, some years you just don’t have it in you to watch all the Christmas movies and bubble gaily at parties. It feels a little like maybe you’d be better off on the Island of Misfit Toys, with your chipped paint and limping spirit. And all the traditions and high expectations of the season only serve to underline how you are dragging on behind….might push you to add another present to the pile and turn up the carols, so no one suspects. Doesn’t it make you wonder where we ever got the idea that we need to achieve a certain level of glitter and gaiety before Christmas can come?

But the Prophet Isaiah is lighting up the centuries with his clarion call straight from the mouth of God: “‘Comfort, comfort my people,’ says your God. ‘Speak tenderly to Jerusalem. Tell her that her sad days are gone and her sins are pardoned.'” (Isaiah 40:1) If ever there were a holiday for the hollow and the worn-weary, it is Christmas: “For I hold you by your right hand— I, the Lord your God. And I say to you, ‘Don’t be afraid. I am here to help you.” (Isaiah 41:13) The good news comes ready-or-not to the sheep-herders and the inn-keepers, that the glory of God is coming down from heaven to shine in the back alleys and the open fields of everyday life. This is the gift of Christmas, that Christ has come to be with us in whatever we are facing, to bring healing and hope. “When the poor and needy search for water and there is none, and their tongues are parched from thirst, then I, the Lord, will answer them. I…will never abandon them.” (Isaiah 41:17)

Christmas is most of all for the broken and needy, and the Light of the world shines in all His brilliance on everyone who waits patiently for His help. Isaiah records the precious promises of His salvation: “…how can you say the Lord does not see your troubles?…The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding. He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless.” (Isaiah 40:27-29) We are held, and we are loved, and we don’t need sparkle and shine to cover us up, because the Almighty covers us. Even the Musician-King David is singing of the Messiah’s coming. “He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection.” (Psalm 91:4)

The Gospel writers highlight the prophets’ words over and over, just to prove that God’s promises have all come true in Jesus. Matthew says it as plainly as he knows how: “All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet: ‘Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’” (Matthew 1:22-23) The events of Christmas were always part of God’s plan, a Light shining down through history from the beginning of time, for those who know their need. John bursts into praise at the truth of what he had seen with his own eyes: “The Word gave life to everything that was created, and His life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.” (John 1:4)

This is the miracle of Christmas night, that all God’s promises come true at once, with a woman’s laboring cry and an army of angels singing: “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.” (Luke 2:14) To the warring and the broken, the blind and deaf, the bent and the bruised, it is the best news of all. Christ has come, and He will make us whole! The prophet Malachi adds his own joyful note to the ancient songs: “But for you who fear my name, the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in his wings.” (Malachi 4:2)

In this most wonderful time of the year, may our longing for goodness to prevail, for beauty, for peace… drive us only to the Light of the World who is given for us.

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More than presents, I long for Your presence to be apparent in all the minutes You give me. I long for Your face to shine upon me. May I define abundance as a manger, strips of cloth, and a place to lay my weary head.

shelly Miller

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For the Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With His love, He will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.

Zephaniah 3:17