That’s it. Christmas boxed up for another year. A duster
flung round the rooms, hoover crawled over the carpet, and a pile of cards from
wonderful friends and family sitting here ready to go into baskets for prayer
fodder in the coming months.
Christmas chez nous was busy, noisy and fun, what with a
toddler granddaughter and two baby grandsons. But underneath the joy and
celebration droned a bass-line of grief, grounding us in the reality of the Christmas
story.
Yes, it’s about a new baby, bringing new life for us all. But
Jesus was born into a time like this, with a crescendo-ing bass-line of
political unrest, religious struggles, refugees, poverty and sorrow and grief.
So while we are putting the boxes back into the attic, the
baby born afresh into our hearts this year is more needed than ever. Christmas is not in the boxes; it is in the hearts. As Jesus
grows in my heart today, and every day for the next twelve months, I pray that
I would be transformed to conform more closely with his grace, his mercy, his
love and his truth.
I pray that what I will have boxed up and put away, not in
an attic but in a deep dark pit from which there is no return, are negative and
critical attitudes, a loose tongue too quick to pronounce judgment, a heart too
small to welcome in the vulnerable, and a faith that entertains a doubt about
God’s goodness and love.
How can I doubt his goodness and love, when he has given us
his heart?
May 2017 be a year of growing revelation and deeper love,
for our fellow creation and for our Creator.
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