A Christmas Card from Joseph

A Christmas Card from Joseph
(by Bill Hall)
Luke 2:1-7

Some days I think I am crazy. Happy Christmas 2017, by the way. Anyway, sometimes I’m not sure if I’m coming or going. But, I’m sure that life just keeps going, whether I do or not. I remember one year, year one, it was like that, coming and going . . . going and coming.

For one thing, I was engaged. Now that will put a lot on a fellow’s mind. Stress. About the most stressful thing I ever did. Totally worth it, of course. But then, this wasn’t going to be just ANY engagement either. Let’s just say it took much more than an act of congress to convince me this was the right step to take. God Himself moved me into this marriage. The whole thing was more than I could handle, and more than I would ever have expected.

And, right in the middle of all that, Caesar has to come up with a brilliant tax scheme. Yikes! Could it get any hairier? What was life in this family going to be like? Would we always get shuttled around like this? I’m more of a ‘stay in my shop and mind my own business’ kind of guy. I know Mary could tell it was getting to me. But, by the grace of the Almighty, I held strong.

Bethlehem, Bethlehem! The worst place in all the world to end up was the best place to keep our end up. Though the last place I wanted to be at the moment, it was the place I could only have dreamed to be, had I fully understood what was about to transpire. It was so busy I couldn’t hear myself think.

Put yourself in my sandals for a mile or two. I was pitiful I’m sure. But yet, blessed as no man had been to that day. It wasn’t until all the hustle and bustle had died down that I really had a moment’s peace. And only a moment! But that moment was so much sweeter for all the journey I took to get to it.

Indeed, I have often heard people advised that the busy is bad for you and that you should never allow it. But I think they have it wrong. What is best is not to crowd out the busy, but to keep it from crowding Him out of your night. Come to a place and a moment in time that you can reflect on Who HE is, no matter how much busy it takes to get there.

This Christmas remember, it isn’t your circumstances that will decide your future. It is the One Who put you there that knows what is going on. But don’t fight those circumstances, for they are His tools. If you belong to Him, and you are given His work, you have no busy to fear. In the busy, however, look for those times of reflection and rest. He will be sure that you get them if only you’ll ask.