A Different Kind of Christmas

 


A DIFFERENT KIND OF CHRISTMAS

By:  Julie Souza Bradley Lilly

“O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together.” –  Psalm 34:3 KJV

Christmas feels different this year, and I am missing a sense of normalcy, togetherness and celebration. The holidays are a time of magnification —whether it be in the decoration of our homes or in stress, indulgence, or sense of obligation.  For some joy is magnified — for others a gnawing sense of loneliness.

There was loneliness that first Christmas, too.  Consider the shepherds.  While mother’s were singing their children to sleep in town, the shepherds rested beneath a blanket of stars, with just the soft bleats of sheep as their lullaby.  Suddenly, the stillness was broken, when the angel of the Lord appeared announcing the Good News.  The heavens burst open with the voices of angels praising and giving glory to God. 

The shepherds were not expecting such a holy visitation.  They were the lowly, the unwashed and the lonely.  They may have felt forgotten that night, but they were not forgotten by God.  Catch the treasure hidden here, Beloved.  God did not announce Himself to kings, but bent His knee and sent word FIRST to the poor, disenfranchised and lonely.  

God didn’t forget the shepherds, and He has not forgotten you.  Consider this time of being set apart as a holy preparation for your own divine encounter.  Join with me.  Let’s shift our focus to magnify the One who is worthy of magnification.

Father, as You did more than 2000 years ago, visit us again.  Once again bring hope, peace and good news. Invade our loneliness with Your presence and exchange feelings of abandonment with that of being intimately known, wanted and loved. 

Father, thank You that the worst of times can become the best of times, when we spend them with You.  We offer all we have and are to the King who visits shepherds. Turn our offering for the good.  And may our voices be heard joining with the angels when they say, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom His favor rests.” – Luke 2:14  In Jesus’ Name ❤️

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