It’s nearly Christmas! Hopefully all the busyness and stress of the lead up to Christmas is calming for you now as you start to enter into the celebrations with your loved ones.
It’s time to prepare our hearts afresh for the coming of the Christ child and all that means to us. I was thinking of Joseph and Mary as they made that long, hard and dangerous journey to Bethlehem. Their future, even the very immediate future was so full of uncertainty. Who could help them navigate the path ahead, who could even understand what it meant to be told they were carrying the Son of God? Sometimes we too can feel very alone as if we are dealing with things that no one else can possibly comprehend. You may be struggling with such feelings this Christmas Eve? I know myself as I’ve been going through challenging times recently, that it can be hard to grasp the wonder of what took place that very first Christmas. We can lose that awe and the promised joy that Jesus came to bring us. But John told us in John 3:16: ‘For God So loved the world that he gave his one and only Son . . .’
God SO loved you and me that he gave us Jesus. Whatever is going on in our lives, nothing can compare with that awesome gift. Jesus special God given nickname Immanuel, means God with us. God came to be with each of us in a way never experienced before. Yes things were fraught and uncertain for Mary and Joseph but the Lord provided, guided and ministered to them every step of the way. Even when one inn after another told them they were full, Mary was in labour and they were totally overwhelmed, yet he was with them, watching over them and caring for them so deeply.
God will provide, guide and minister to you and me every step of the way too and loves us as deeply as he loved Mary and Joseph. I wonder as Jesus’ tiny life was born on that dark night, if they realised as they gazed into his face, that they were holding the Prince of Peace and the Wonderful Counsellor right there in their arms? It’s important this Christmas that we too make time in our hearts to gaze into Jesus face and drink in the wonder of his love for us. However fraught or uncertain things are, he is with us, our Immanuel. We can open our hearts to his gift of peace and let his whisper of wonderful counsel reach into our innermost beings. He SO loved the world. He SO loves you and is with you forever.
May you know the joy and peace of Immanuel, God with you this Christmas and in the coming year.
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