The Truth Or The Tinsel

Do you catch yourself complaining at Christmas about the little things and the little inconveniences. It is a good time to think about the story of Mary and Joseph and to remember that it wasn't about a warm fire and Christmas cookies.

Joseph had to take weeks off work for a government-sponsored registration. Mary was having to endure the gossip surrounded her "unplanned" pregnancy. Think about Joseph and Mary having to endure a four-day donkey ride to Bethlehem and she being at full term and then having to deliver a baby in a stinky barn.

Why would God let His own Son be born under those conditions? Was He mad at Mary and Joseph? The answer is no. Just maybe God allowed the stable so we could see His glory in the midst of life's humbling experiences.

Can life be hard? Does it have its downside and its struggles? And where is God when we are battling through these despairing times? We know, don't we, that God was with Mary and Joseph every moment, working out His incredible plan of redemption. Know also, my friend, that He is with you right now in the middle of those bruising life-moments.

Let Christmas remind you and me to look beyond our current struggles and know that God is doing something good. Up North Wisdom says if we will lift our eyes above the unpleasantness of the Bethlehem circumstances, we too might catch a glimpse of the Star of Christmas. God can give us a renewed outlook, a positive outlook on the time that lies before us. We can rediscover the beauty and joyousness of it all when we focus on the TRUTH and not the tinsel -- on the PRICELESS and not the MasterCard. The best is yet to come. A very Merry Christmas.