Oh, Christmas…
Once a fertile garden of celebration of the past and hope for the future, she is now a barren wasteland of lost yesterdays and missed tomorrows. Tragedy touches our lives and, just like that, hope gives way to despair. Suddenly, what once held beauty and magic, now only holds pain. We hear the old familiar carols and think, “Peace on earth? There is no peace on earth!”
All we can see is the empty stocking. The empty chair. The emptiness in our heart. Nothing puts a magnifying glass on grief quite like Christmas. And grief is anything but beautiful.
And yet…
The beauty of Christmas isn’t found in what lies under the tree or even in who sits around our table. The true beauty of Christmas is that God wrapped Himself in flesh and became one of us to show us the way to have peace with Himself. His is a peace that isn’t dependent upon our circumstances. It isn’t defined by the absence of conflict. True peace is a presence. Real peace is a Person. And that Person can never be lost.
This is the message of Christmas.
Into a broken and sin-torn world, the Prince of Peace came. To reconcile us to His Father. So that death wouldn’t have the last word. Oh, how we need Him!
This Christmas season, when the waves of grief and despair threaten to undo you, remember that God is still reaching out to offer you His hope and peace—just as He was 2,000 years ago, when silence was broken by a host of angels, singing, “peace on earth.”
12/06/2022