What does your Christmas journey really look like?
Do you want Christmas peace this year? Considering this past year, I think we all do.
I think maybe that’s one of the reasons we are encouraged throughout Scripture to set time apart to spend with God in quiet contemplation. It’s not for God so much as it is for us. It’s God’s way of helping us schedule some “down” time. A time for “quiet”. A time for Christmas peace.
I’ve been thinking about how “quite” was the journey that Mary and Joseph took to Bethlehem. The whispered conversations they must have had as they snuggled under the stars with the gentle breeze cooling them at night and the sounds of the night singing them to sleep. This trip was probably the first time they even had a chance to really get to know each other. Something tells me that they often looked back at this journey as the most peaceful time of their lives.
Our world now is a much noisier world. Not just audible noise but the “noise” of twenty-four hour news. Twenty-four hour e-mail and message alerts on our phone. The commercial “noise” of advertising.
As you know from this post, I’ve really been on overload with gift-making. For some reason, this years projects were so much fun, I couldn’t help myself. I’m very happy with how everything has turned out.
I wanted to be done by the first day of December so I could begin my own “peaceful” journey for the next couple of weeks. I’m close, really, really close.
Christ could have been born in the hustle and bustle of today. The journey could have been by car on a crowded highway to a busy pediatric “manager”.
But that wasn’t God’s timing. And God’s timing is always spot-on.
However, just because the journey was “quiet”, meaning the absence of audible sound, it was diffucult. The trip to Bethlehem was dangerous. They traversed hilly and rocky terrain. There were bandits and wild aminals looking for prey.
But it WAS quiet. It was still
I’ve been wondering lately if God didn’t pick that time and space in history because it was a “quieter” time. I don’t mean the world was at peace. It certainly wasn’t.
The Roman government was as corrupt as any in the world today. Sexual deviancy was the norm, not the exception. There was political unrest. There was such injustice directed towards the poor that Jesus addressed it often. The subject of justice is mentioned over two hundred times in the Bible. (If you want to read a really good article visit here.)
It has been said that Jesus talked about money and possessions more than any other subject. There are reported to be over 2,000 verses addressing this subject.I lumped money and possessions, and justice together because, of course, they… Click To TweetCrown ministries is said to have compiled a detailed list if you want to check it out.
My own tranquil journey will start soon. I want to read the Christmas story with “fresh” eyes. I don’t know how possible that is because the traditional story has been imprinted on my mind for years. But I want to try. I want my own journey to Christmas to prove as “quiet” as the one traveled so many years ago. Maybe the gift awaiting me will prove as wondrous.
If any of you have some ideas, some rituals you are engaging in, some special devotional, etc., please let me know. I would be grateful. I’m going to “google” some things and I’ll be sure to share with you if I come across anything of value.
God bless and I hope you have a good day.
