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Fifth Christmas Gift

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Fifth Gift of Christmas – HOPE

Matthew 12:20 a bruised reed he will not break,
and a smoldering wick he will not quench,
until he brings justice to victory

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Not long ago a home on the next street of our neighborhood was condemned by the city. It had the unfortunate luck to be near a large storm sewer project gone awry. Somehow with all the digging, smashing and scraping going on its foundation had become weakened. In order to move the construction forward, large equipment was brought in and in just a few days the house was demolished and trucked away.

Is there someone in your world who is a lot like this small unfortunate home? They have gotten a little too close to important building projects. The heavy equipment, the digging and smashing going on while others nearby are reaching their goals has weakened their footings.  A lifetime of planning, years of family dinners and memories of children playing can be wiped away in just a few days or even hours.

Jesus said he would never break bruised hearts of put out the candles of flickering hope. When we give to bind up bruised dreams we are carrying on His work in a wounding world. When we help to light candle flames by pointing them to His gift of hope we are reaching a goal far greater than our own!

No Room

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And brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. Luke 2:7

While there is some question as to what an inn might have been in ancient Bethlehem there is no doubt that it was a place where they could stay. The urgent need of Mary to give birth was less urgent than the needs of others on that night.

Not much has changed in our 21st century world of push and hurry. Everyone seems to have an immediate demand for time attention and most importantly, money. But in the storm of wishes and wants it seems that even in His own church there is often no room for his birth. We are so involved in a thousand activities that quiet safety for newborn faith is turned out in the cold.

Thank God for his plan to call shepherds angels and strange Wiseman to we welcome God’s Son to Bethlehem.

Compared to the wonderful preparations of the Father the inn can be a cold and lonely place. Let’s go out to the barn, listen to Angel choirs and kneel beside the Magi and worship Christ the Lord!

Listening in the Construction Zone

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Have you ever noticed that the construction zone and the destruction zone seem very much alike? Maybe that’s because both involve some smashing down and some digging up that are equally painful. Recently we experienced lots of digging up, filling in and then digging up and filling in again of several large pipes under our street. The issues were complex and the rerouting didn’t work the first second or even third time. One night they were smashing and pounding till 11 o’clock. My response to waking up to the racket was to put my jacket on over my pj’s  and march indignantly down the street to complain.

The tired foreman of the job took off his hardhat and politely answered that they couldn’t wait to go home either but they had to finish before they were allowed to quit. Sheepishly I went home realizing that I was not the only one who wished the work was done.  In Joseph’s life he also passed through a construction zone when he was unjustly thrown into prison.  Unlike me, Joseph was patient and continued to listen rather than complain. The heavy construction that God was doing in his life became a season of blessing and growth because Joseph chose to listen.

But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy, and He gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison.And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph’s hand all the prisoners who were in the prison; whatever they did there, it was his doing.                 Genesis 39:21-22 kimg0748

On those occasions where I have followed Joseph’s ex
ample and tuned my ears to listen I have discovered as he did that it is God who is at work digging and pounding and He can’t stop till He has finished! God’s promises are real. He hasn’t abandoned us or forgotten the dream which He sent. In fact the painful circumstances which we are in today are what God is using to build the spiritual dream home which He has prepared for us for all eternity!