Work at Home Success By Jill Hart
Mom Laughs By Cheryl Moeller
Simplifying Motherhood By Trish Berg
Ask A Twin Mommy By Cheryl Lage
Mothering By Heart By Cheri Fuller
Jelly Mom By Lisa Barker
Family Check-up By Sheila Wray Gregoire
Parent to Parent By Jodie Lynn
Moments for Mom By Elisabeth Corcoran
Making the Most of Marriage By Paula Friedrichsen
The Gifts of Christmas - Comfort
December, 2011
By Trish Berg
(Part 1 in a 3 Part Series)
Note: Please join me (linked to Trish's site) over the next three weeks as I share a 3 Part Series with you on the Gifts of Christmas. This week is on the gift of Comfort.
The Christmas story is truly a simple story. One filled with hope, love, grace…and gifts. Christmas is filled with gifts. Not the packages wrapped in red and green paper under your Christmas tree, but the gifts that can’t be wrapped in a box with a ribbon top. And the best gift ever given was Jesus Himself, fully God and fully man, sent to us to show God’s love.
Christmas is a truly simple story at its core, but with so many gifts wrapped up with love.
Let’s start with Mary. Imagine how Mary felt as she journeyed to Bethlehem with her new husband only to find nowhere to stay. She had trusted God and faithfully believed what the angel had told her, and yet when the time came for her to deliver her baby, there was no room for them at the inn.
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I imagine that Mary was scared. I know that I would be. I imagine that Mary felt alone, even with Joseph by her side. I know that’s how I would feel. And that is where the gift of comfort comes in.
God must have known how much He was asking of Mary. He understood what she was feeling. God understands our fear and loneliness. So after Jesus was born in that lowly manger, amidst Mary’s fears and loneliness, God sent Mary the shepherds.
“And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.’” (Luke 2:8-14)
After seeing the angels in the sky praising God, the shepherds hurried to meet this baby Jesus. “So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.” (Luke 2:16) So there was Mary with Joseph and Jesus in a cold stable feeling very unwelcome in a town that had no room for them in the inn, and God sent comfort in the form of shepherds.
I imagine her smile, the warmth that penetrated her heart as she listened to the shepherds’ story of how the angels sang in the sky and praised God. Knowing that God led them to meet Jesus in that stable must have been so assuring to her. And when she heard what they had said, she “treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” (Luke 2:19) She treasured God’s gift of comfort in her heart and I am sure it kept her warm in that cold stable.
God have Mary the gift of comfort just when she needed it the most from the most unlikely source- shepherds from the field. A simple gift in a simple story from a glorious God, all wrapped up in His grace.
And that grace is lovelier than any wrapping paper we could buy at the store.
Trish would love to hear from you at www.trishberg.com, or e-mail trishberg @ trishberg.com.
© Trish Berg, 2006-
Trish Berg is author to The Great American Supper Swap, and Rattled - Surviving Your Baby's First Year without Losing Your Cool! She has been a guest ABC World News Tonight, Midday Connection, and The Harvest Show.
She is an internationally known speaker for ministries such as MOPS, Hearts at Home, and in Australia on Parenting Seminars Online. She has written for Today's Christian Woman, MOMSense, CBN.com and P31 WOMAN.
For more information, check out www.TrishBerg.com