The Christmas season is here. With it comes anticipation, busy schedules, get-togethers, and the end of another year. Both joy and stress fill the winter air. Christmas classics on the radio, decorations and Christmas trees, homes filled with holiday traditions and the smell of sugar cookies baking in the oven.
Christmas is my favorite time of year. There is a peace that fills my heart as I anxiously await the birth of Jesus. Year after year brings challenge and change. Life can feel unstable and unknown. Yet every December, we remember the Savior of the world who was born in a stable. Such humble beginnings for a God who created the Heavens and the Earth.
There is a song by Christian artist Audrey Assad called "Winter Snow". It is my favorite Christmas song (written in the last hundred years), because it beautifully describes the birth of Christ. In all His power and glory, He could have come to Earth in a way that displayed His greatness. Yet He "came like a winter snow. Quiet, soft and slow. Falling from the sky in the night to the Earth below."
As another year comes to an end, it becomes easy to fall into feelings of disappointment and loneliness. Maybe the past year wasn't everything it was 'supposed' to be. Maybe dreams were crushed, relationships ended, financial hardships haven't disappeared, or life just didn't go as planned.
While there is hope in a new year, there is constant and never-changing hope found in a manger. As least that's where it begins. We can follow the baby in the manger to the man coming up out of the Jordan River, to the shores of Galilee, to the Garden of Gethsemane, to Golgotha where He stretched out His arms and paid the price for the sins of the World.
This coming year, like the last, will bring unexpected pain and difficulties. Life is always changing, and we are always adjusting. But God says to us in Isaiah 7,
"Be careful, keep calm and don’t be afraid. Do not lose heart...
If you do not stand firm in your faith,
you will not stand at all."
May this Christmas season, and every one to come, remind us that we serve not only a mighty God, but a humble and compassionate God. A God who didn't come like a mighty storm, but a winter snow. One who knows what it feels like to live in a fallen world. A God who has endured stress, disappointment and heartache. May we keep calm, and not lose heart. May we stand firm in our faith, because there is no ground more stable.
Enjoy this beautiful Christmas song!
Thoughts for the Week:
1. What stresses are affecting your faith this Christmas season?
2. What character traits of Jesus can we see just by meditating on how He chose to enter the World?
1 comment:
Christina,
As usual, your post leaves us with some thought provoking things to contemplate. This is a beautiful song too, one I would not have heard if I had not read your post today. Thanks for sharing your life in this way. Christmas Blessings to you and yours.
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