There are lights on the tree, lights on the house, lights IN the house casting magic and wonder on my walls.
Santa is at the mall and in front of the grocery stores ringing a bell and I even saw him at a church.
Starbucks has it's "holiday" cups and Christmas songs are playing everywhere.
People are smiling and shopping and Christmas cheer seems to ooze from every shopping bag and store I have visited.
Christmas cards are arriving, bringing news from old friends and new. Their kids have grown; she cut her hair; they look happy.
But not everything fits so perfectly into my Christmas cookie cutters.
We still have real life happening. Marriages are ending; cancer is returning; surgery is around the corner; families are broken or simply annoying...this is real life.
I never know what to do with it, but ESPECIALLY at Christmas I'm lost.
Today as I am on my knees weeping and questioning what God is doing, I think of Mary. And King David.
Here is Mary.
Sweet, young, "chosen by God" is what the angel said. "The Spirit of the Lord will overshadow you." He was pretty impressive so she was inclined to believe him. "Blessed are you among women," is what he said. So what was she doing on the floor of a stable? Having a baby who would "be very great and the Son of the Most High"? This did not feel very blessed. There was no nurse, no midwife, no mom. Just the dirty floor of a stable and some cows. Maybe God could have chosen someone else? Because this was ridiculous.
Then we have David.
A poet and musician. Hanging out with some sheep until his father remembered he was also part of the family and called him to stand in front of Samuel. That is when Samuel anointed him to be the next King of Israel and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him. Then has was running for his life. Hiding in caves and leaving his family and best friend and trying not to be killed. This is not how one chosen of God should live. There should be pillows and comfort and no threats of violence. Maybe God could have chosen someone else? And David could go back to his sheep and poetry?
Both of these people were chosen by God and His very Spirit was with them, but was it worth it? All the pain and confusion and terror and heartbreak?
I'm watching people, chosen by God, walk through pain.
I'm watching people, chosen by God, walk through fear.
And I have to believe it's worth it to be chosen by God.
See, I don't think this is it. Hebrews 11 is the "Hall of Fame" for people of faith. And tucked in the middle it says,
"All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. 14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one."
I understand longing for a better country. My favorite Christmas song states that "a weary world rejoices for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn." We are a weary world looking for a glorious morn. Plus, I'm a mom. I'm always looking for a NOT weary world.
And it came.
Jesus came.
Into this dark and weary world.
The darker the world, the brighter the flame of hope can shine.
It may sound hokey, but it's true and I believe it. When my soul is struggling to hold onto hope I can ask, in the words of David,
"Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God." (Psalm42:5)
Hebrews 11 also reminds me that "faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see."
So even when I can't see it, I know God is good.
Even when I can't see it, I know God is love.
Even when I can't see it, I know that God has written us onto the palm of His hand, written us INTO the palm of His hand and He's got this.
Even when I can't see it, I know that "all things work together for good to those who love God." (Romans 8:28)
He doesn't always cause the disaster or diagnosis or situation. But He works with it and makes beauty from ashes, joy from mourning and turns my despair into praise (Isaiah 61:3).
This I have lived.
This I have seen.
So this Christmas, as we all deal with real life, may I hold your face in my hands and say with great compassion:
"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." (Romans 15:13)
We are even told we will need the power of the Holy Spirit to overflow with hope.
It's not an easy thing.
So, friends, let's all do the hard thing and hope and pray for that which we cannot see.
May we all overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit- especially this Christmas.
And can you just take a minute and sit by your tree or your fire or a candle and ponder these words:
"My people will be able to camp safely in the wildest places and sleep in the woods without fear. I will cause my people and their homes around my holy hill to be a blessing.
And I will send showers, showers of blessings, which will come just when they are needed. The orchards and fields of my people will yield bumper crops and everyone will live in safety. When I have broken their chains of slavery and rescued them from those who enslaved them. then they will know that I am the LORD....
They will live in safety and no one will make them afraid...
You are my flock, the sheep of my pasture.
You are my people and I am your God, says the Sovereign LORD."
(Ezekiel 34:25b-31)
There's something to hope for.
