“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior” (Luke 1:46-47).
This Christmas, has a “storm” silenced your song? Storms of life do not defer to holidays, do they? In fact, holidays can seem to make the storms even more fierce since they come with so much additional activity and responsibility. I know. A storm has swept into our lives this Christmas season.
As I write this my beloved husband, Danny, is back in the hospital. This is our sixth December in seven years that he has had a medical emergency. While some have been more life-threatening than others, none have been easy. All have been stressful. Added to ministry responsibilities, preparations for Christmas and everyday family issues, the hospitalizations can seem like powerful storms.
My reaction to the storm has reminded me of the difference between a turkey and an eagle, which is dramatic when a storm threatens. While the turkey runs under the barn and hides to stay safe, the eagle lets out a piercing scream as he spreads his wings, launches out into the wind, then uses the air currents to soar to higher and higher levels.
When storms burst into my life, I want to be an eagle, but sometimes in my spirit I’m a turkey. So I have a choice. I can either disengage from life, complain in my spirit, throw a pity-party, and hope the storms go away. Or I can spread my wings, allowing the challenges to take me into the stratosphere of faith as I trust my heavenly Father completely. Even when I don’t understand. In that rarefied atmosphere of total trust, I not only have peace, but a song in my heart.
Which is where the Christmas story comes in. Because it couldn’t have been easy for the young virgin from Nazareth who was pregnant, but not married; who delivered her baby in a stable, not a hospital or a home; who laid her newborn infant in a manger, not a cradle. Yet her heart sang the words above that have become a classic expression of joy and worship. This Christmas, in the midst of my storm, I have made them mine. Make them yours, too.
