“Lord, I pray for our wandering hearts and minds that take us into a future of suffering without you. Forgive us for forgetting you.”
“Lord I believe; help my unbelief.” Mark 9:24
This Christmas season has already been filled with moments richer than the “Ultimate Chocolate (and every-other-kind-of-chip) Cookies” my friend Reina bakes. A graduation party for my son’s dear friend, a Christmas program that lifted our hearts to the heavens, a still moment in our house with 4 out of 6 gathered, quietly Christmas shopping on their Macbooks in front of a blazing fire:) (Yes, this is 21st Century Christmas!)
And yet. There are holes. So many dear friends struggling with illness, pain and grief, wondering if and when the day will come for it to end. One friend asks me if I sometimes feel a sadness descending at Christmastime and I nod. Mine feels like a blanket of fog that gathers and lifts, hers like being encircled by enemy troops. We wait for our daughter to finish exams and return home, and I think of those who wait for no one to return home. Because of the effects of the Fall, we all feel at times the anxiety, the weight of longings for shalom, the hopes and fears of all the years hovering.
And yet. And yet, BOTH the joys and the fears are what Christmas is all about. Sunday our pastor took us to Isaiah 35, which is actually a brilliant Christmas piece because it is about the “Return of the Ransomed” as my ESV Bible tells me. I’m going to be meditating on it all week, and I invite you to join me. For today, just sit with these few verses:
“With this news, strengthen those who have tired hands,
and encourage those who have weak knees.
Say to those with fearful hearts,
“Be strong, and do not fear,
for your God is coming to destroy your enemies.
He is coming to save you.” Isaiah 35:3-4 (NLT)
For reflection:
- Read all of Isaiah 35 then consider the following questions:
- What joys have you experienced this Christmas season or others?
- What anxieties or sorrows? How does Isaiah 35: 3-4 speak to your story or to that of someone you know?
Pray: Lord, help us to see YOU in our future. Not only have you come, lived, died, and been resurrected, but you WILL COME AGAIN to take us home where Christmas joy and hope will be everlasting and everpresent. We thank you for this great good news, Lord. Amen.
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