Christmas Chaos
By Peggy Park
“You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You.”
Isaiah 26:3
The activity on the highways and in the stores exceeds anything I have ever witnessed previously. Men and women seem to be dashing madly from place to place pursuing the “perfect” holiday. Woe to anyone who gets in the way with horns blowing, cars abruptly changing lanes with no warning, and store doors slamming in your face as the person in front of you exits with no regard for the person behind them. This is certainly not a picture of the peace the prince of peace (Isaiah 9:6), whose birthday we are celebrating, came to provide.
This is in contrast to the picture I have of Mary, the mother of the Christ child. She was a young woman delivering her first child. She probably had no older women to attend her at the birth of Jesus. The labor could have been hastened by the long ride on a donkey to get to Bethlehem to comply with the orders of Caesar Augustus that all of the world be registered.
Mary had the perfect opportunity to be anxious in a strange city with no proper room to lay her head and rest her tired body from the travel. The conditions were less than idea by our standards, or I am sure the standards of the day.
She could also have been unsettled when she found out Joseph had a dream and was told to take the young child and His mother and flee to Egypt. Ride a donkey holding a baby?
Mary was certainly in strange places and situations, yet there is no indication she was ever less than peaceful. I think she had her mind fixed on her high calling to birth and care for the one who provides perfect peace.
In preparing to celebrate the birthday of this one who came to provide perfect peace, let us remember to tap into that peace as we make preparations. We have often heard the expression “He is the reason for the season.” Let us keep that foremost in our minds and not get caught up in the world’s frantic celebration mindset, but remember to carve out time daily to sit with the Prince of Peace in our quiet time.
Pray with me: Lord, help us to keep our eyes on you as we prepare to celebrate the birth of your son, Jesus. Help us to walk in the peace that we are promised and to let that peace radiate out of us to the world around us. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.