“The LORD gives his people strength; the LORD blesses them with peace.” (Psalm 29:11)
A few years ago, a friend of mine and her teenage daughter sat at my kitchen table just a few weeks before Christmas. About a month later – my friend told me that her daughter, who was in her final year of high school, was pregnant. The mother went through many emotions ranging from anger to empathy, knowing how increasingly difficult her daughter’s life might become if the child remained in her life. For a brief time, the option of giving up the baby for adoption was discussed. But no matter how complicated a newborn might change their lives, it was decided that the child would be welcomed and remain with this family. I must say when I first heard the news, my goal was to help my friend accept the situation and comfort her with the understanding that while this may have been a mistake on her daughter’s part – God doesn’t make mistakes. Now looking back, I think about how scared the daughter must have been halfway through her pregnancy knowing that soon not only her parents would be aware of her situation but it would also be very public. How she ever had peace that Christmas, I will never know.
Over two-thousand years ago, another teenage girl found herself with child. Although it was under very different circumstances than the daughter of my friend – she too must have been frightened. Scripture says that Mary was “greatly troubled” (Luke 1:29). “But the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God’” (Luke 1:30). Mary felt acceptance stating “I am the Lord’s servant…may it be to me as you have said” (Luke 1:38). She had her own prayerful song of praise having found peace in her situation (Luke 1:46-55). Her husband, Joseph, also had to find his own peace, because when he first found out Mary was pregnant, “he had in mind to divorce her quietly” (Matthew 1:19). But an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream explaining that he should not be afraid to take Mary home as his wife because “what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit” and that “they will call him ‘Immanuel’ which means, ‘God with us’” (Matthew 1:20-23). So Joseph did what the angel asked of him.
Finding peace in our lives can at times be very difficult, especially when one is engaged in any battle. On Christmas eve over a hundred years ago in the midst of a world war, it is reported that thousands of British, Belgian and French soldiers stepped out of their trenches and spent Christmas in a truce mingling with their German enemies. It is written that it all began with carol singing first from one side and then the other, each melodiously sharing the familiar tunes in their own language. The next morning German soldiers emerged from their trenches saying “Merry Christmas” in English while allied soldiers hesitantly came out of hiding to greet them. Gifts such as cigarettes and chocolate bars were exchanged, and some say makeshift soccer games and other signs of human comradery broke out. While it was only a truce – it proves that the wars of our nations are about the ideologies of those in control while the greater power finds its place in the hearts of mankind who desires peace and goodwill for all.
What is the battle that is preventing you from finding peace this Christmas? Are you my workmate who is lying in a hospital bed waiting for an answer as to how they will treat your recently diagnosed cancer? Are you related to the wife and mother I recently heard about who went for a jog one morning being left for dead along a highway by a hit-and-run driver? Or are you like the lady I visited this week who is only a few birthdays away from a hundred wondering whether your life still has purpose? My prayer is that each of you will find your own path to the manger this Christmas. There you will be introduced to the “Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). In a world filled with turmoil – we each struggle to find peace along our own journey, no matter what the conflict. But like my friend who describes her new granddaughter as “the light” of their family, the baby Jesus would years later refer to Himself as “the light of the world” (John 8:12). As we grow closer and walk with Him daily, we will hear the angels say once more – “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased” (Luke 2:14).
REFLECTION: Are you letting God work within you to accomplish His will, or are you fighting through a situation finding yourself distant from Him this Christmas? How might you renew your relationship with the Savior so that you can experience the “peace that passes all understanding” (Philippians 4:7)?
(MY NEXT WEEKLY DEVOTION WILL BE UPLOADED ON SAT., DECEMBER 26, 2015. IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE REMINDED OF THE FREE WEEKLY POSTINGS, SEND YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS TO: LookUpwrd@aol.com YOUR ADDRESS WILL NOT BE SHARED)