In this season of Advent, we eagerly wait and remember the coming of our Messiah, Our King, born in a humble manger. We sing songs about this first holy Christmas night – songs like Silent Night and Away in a Manger – celebrating the miraculous virgin birth of Our Savior. We adorn our homes and landscapes with peaceful nativity scenes. Yet, when I picture this divinely-orchestrated scenario in my head, “peaceful” would not be the first word I would choose to describe it.
While I have yet to experience the joy (as well as the coinciding struggles) of carry and delivering a child into this world, I’m blessed to work in an office that sees and cares for many pregnant women. I particularly enjoy listening to the stories and experiences of all the pregnant mamas as they describe their journeys through pregnancy. With each consecutive appointment, they tell of their growing physical discomfort as their bodies continue to participate in the miracle of growing a human life; yet their hearts simultaneously grow in eager anticipation to soon be face-to-face with their long-awaited gift from above. In all my listening and journeying alongside these pregnant mamas, I’ve determined this to be a common theme: Pregnancy is uncomfortable. Labor and delivery are incredibly painful. But in the end, when you’re holding your sweet bundle of joy in your arms, the pain and discomfort become a distant memory.
When I envision Mary’s journey as a pregnant mama, I imagine it being filled with great difficulty. A young teenage girl, traveling across the desert in the sweltering heat with a husband who was chosen for her, riding on the back of a donkey. All while trying to reconcile the weight of knowing she is responsible for carrying and giving birth to the Son of God. Oh, and let’s not forget the minor detail that she would be giving birth to this Holy Baby in a stable filled with dirty farm animals. Sound peaceful? Not quite.
What I love and appreciate about this Christmas story (and the miracle of childbirth in general), is the ability it has to display the beautiful truth that true peace, KINGDOM peace, is not attained through favorable circumstances. The world defines peace as the absence of conflict & unrest. However, in the Kingdom of God, peace is not the product of absence. Quite oppositely, it is the product of abundance! Abundant grace, abundant love, and abundant life. All of these gifts are ours when we trust and serve Christ as the Lord of our lives.
In the hustle and bustle of the holidays, sometimes peace feels lost and imperceptible. The busyness of the season seems to suffocate our ability to pause, rest, and enjoy the peace we sing about at Christmas time. In reality, the holiday season can be an especially stressful time of year for many people. Yet, as we dwell in the truth displayed in the story of our coming Messiah, we find courage and hope in knowing that our peace is not dependent upon our circumstances. Rather, through the gift of Immanuel, God with us, we have been given access to true, endless, unshakable peace. Therefore, let us choose to rejoice!
Psalm 29:11 ~ “The Lord gives strength to his people; the Lord blesses his people with peace.”