My favorite moments of the day are the early morning hours, and I especially enjoy this time at Christmas. The house is quiet, the tree lights are on, and the brisk morning air makes sitting by the fireplace just delightful. I welcomed a morning like this a few days ago. Before the sun brought light to the new day, I sat on the couch soaking in the beauty of the festive décor and relished in the calmness that surrounded me. I lit one of my favorite candles, read for a few minutes, and then closed my eyes, savoring the limited time.
After several moments of quiet, I turned on the radio to catch a couple of minutes of the headlines. The very first thing I heard was this: “Be aware. There is a rise in house fires during the Christmas season. If you have a real tree in your house strung with lights [check], or frequently use the fireplace and burn candles this time of year [check, check], know that there is an increased risk for a house fire.”
And that was the end of those calm moments. Now I just sat imagining my house up in flames.
The dichotomy between the time before and after the news caught my attention is so representative of what this season is often like: difficulty in this world only momentarily covered up with garland and lights. We enjoy the festiveness, we relish in the lovely decorations, but none of it completely calms the whirlwind of anxiety caused by living in a broken world. But during Christmas in particular, we try to squelch the worries and the sadness. It is Christmas, after all. It’s the hap-happiest time of the year.
But I desire peace that lasts a lifetime. I long for peace that overcomes the turmoil. The Christmas lullaby, Silent Night, ends with the well-known words: “sleep in heavenly peace.” But how? How do we find soul-filled rest that lasts longer than mere moments in the early morning hours?
We often look for it in the extraordinary believing that long-lasting peace is only really experienced during special times like a prolonged vacation. Yes, we encounter needed rest when we step out of the mayhem, and it’s good to slow the pace for a time. But this kind of peace isn’t heavenly peace. This is not the kind of peace that Jesus came to earth to provide for His people. God did not take on flesh in order that we might only find fleeting moments of rest in these extraordinary moments.
God took on human flesh in order for us to have heavenly peace in the everyday, ordinary moments of life. Jesus set this example when he was born into the ordinary. It wasn’t a silent night, but it was an ordinary day in an ordinary stable, and Jesus was born to an ordinary family. The peace Jesus gives is not about a welcomed moment of a baby sleeping quietly in the stable any more than it is about a moment to sit on the couch before the sun comes up. His peace reaches wider and deeper, and it does not need conjuring. It’s a peace that does not require calm, but it is very present in the chaos.
John 16:33 says, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” Because of the incarnation, we have peace in Jesus. Our Savior came to this earth in order to die, and on the cross He purchased your forgiveness providing eternal peace with the Father.
We miss this so easily at Christmas. Can there still be Christmas peace without the regular family traditions, the travel, the large family gatherings? Can Christmas peace remain in the midst of COVID? Yes, because it does not come through these means, but it exists through our faith in the One who gave His life for you and for me. Jesus does not want us to live anxiously but to trust in His loving and sovereign hand knowing that our God understands what it is to live in a world filled with pain, distress, and disappointment.
Wrap up your fears this Christmas – wrap them tight – and give them to Jesus. He is great enough to receive your greatest burden. The worry that keeps you up at night, the one that quickly comes to mind as you watch the sun rise, that fear that distracts you from all that is good and beautiful in this life, give it to the Lord, and find true rest this Christmas season. God’s peace is unexplainable because it belongs to Him, and He shares with us so we can rest not in momentary, earthly peace, but in long-lasting spirit-filled, heavenly peace with God.
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I love the visual of wrapping up our worries. Thank you 🙂