A Little Christmas In Your Time Of Need

My daughter and I left David and Leslie’s home Sunday with our Kentucky Thanksgiving memories to comfort us. Our long drive home started with the rustic two-lane highway through small towns and rural farm areas. Being the wintertime, the countryside looks dull and lifeless. The rolling pastureland was light brown with highlights of darker fencing. The oaks and maples were totally bare of their former glory. You would not know there was life around except for the homes that dotted the hillside with their bellowing chimney smoke and twinkling Christmas lights. I felt a sense of calmness and peace come over me.

Wintertime can be a joyful dormant time of reflection. As we consider the revelations from the past year’s trials, losses, and victories, we can shoot our roots down deeper into His soil of wisdom and love. It can also be a time of fun. Spending time with family and friends before a glowing fireplace. And then right in the middle of winter, comes Christmas, the time when we prepare our hearts to celebrate the baby Jesus and what that miracle truly means. God came to live among us to restore us to Himself.

As I mediated farther though, the harsh realities of wintertime came to mind, the seemingly endless cold weather chilling to the bones. These are the times in our lives when our circumstances seem to overwhelm us. Our faith in God is the only thing causing us to stand against the waves of impossibilities.

Then my thoughts were interrupted by a vision of the nativity scene, the baby Jesus in the middle with Joseph and Mary on either side with the stable covering them. Then the Lord spoke,

“I want to plant a little Christmas spirit right in the middle of the cold dark soil of the situation you are facing. I want my wisdom and solutions to be birthed within you. I want joy and excitement of your long awaited Savior coming to rise up within your heart. I want you to smile and laugh and dance with the sugar plum fairies. I want you to sing and praise until My blanket of peace surrounds you with love. I want you to remember I have come to empower you and lead you to victory.”

As I turned onto the interstate, I smiled as I thanked the Lord for His power and wisdom in my life.  

Are you in rough times right now? Do you need the Savior to plant a little Christmas spirit in your heart? It does not matter what time of year your winter comes. Go ahead, ask Him and then be willing and ready to get up and rejoice.