The Surprise of a Baby©

     The song always plays this time of year, “Mary did you know that your baby boy is Lord of all creation?” “Did you know that your baby boy would one day rule the nations?” “Did you know that your baby boy is heaven’s perfect lamb?” “That sleeping child you hold is the great I Am”.  It gives me cause to consider how it all began.

     I’ve heard countless sermons on the words from Luke 2, but I’ve never really seen what I’m seeing today that fits with where life finds itself in our home.  What did the people think as they realized that their Messiah was a baby? Did anyone feel deflated or disappointed that it wasn’t the way they expected life to be?  I’ve never really heard anyone talk about that.

     Jesus came as a baby in the dark of night in the most unlikely place, a stable filled with animals.  I wonder as I think of it all what those who had been waiting for His arrival felt when they heard. Could anyone see the birth of an innocent babe to be the coming of their salvation?   Life had been hard for a long time.  They had waited for a rescue and a baby shows up?

     As I contemplate it I can imagine, just for a minute, the weariness of a world gone bad.  It’s easy to feel that when life’s demands beat at your door.  

     I can feel it these days as one job application after another for David is met with silence. We’ve had a hard couple of weeks where all has felt so very lost.  Two jobs that we thought would open didn’t, leaving us a bit dazed and confused. The question can come through my mind quickly. Where is the deliverance of God?  Things often look way different than you imagined.

     A baby silently slips into the dark of night and though He will save the world from itself the wait will not be a short one.  Thirty years will go by before He arrives on the scene to begin his journey to that which will seal the deal, His death, burial and resurrection.

     It’s not a neatly packaged storyline that one can figure out.  It’s not the pomp and circumstance one would imagine for the King of Kings.  Truth is, in the end, it looks like the world has won as the nails go pounding into his hands and feet.  

     We know the end of the story as we had accounts to read about but think of those who had been waiting.  Not one of them anticipated that 3 days later he would rise again and change their worlds from the inside out, yet He did.  

     Life often doesn’t look the way we imagine it should.  There are surprises right around the corner.

     People waited for a Messiah to deliver them.  A baby arrived. They thought Jesus would take over the Roman rule as king and conqueror.  Instead He was nailed to a cross. They watched Him die. What they anticipated would happen took a turn and spiraled seemingly out of control.  But was it?  

   If I stop for a minute and try to imagine I can find a way to relate.  Life doesn’t always go the way I think it will, in fact it seldom does.  Suddenly it goes in a different direction, spiraling downhill quicker than I can stand.  It can take my breath away and leave me dazed and confused. It can be hard to get back up and continue to have hope and belief, especially when answers don’t seem to come.  Where is God anyways?  

     What the story of Jesus tells me is that even though life looks a certain way it’s not the end of the narrative.  It’s what I need to remember these days as the months tick by. Things aren’t always what they seem.  

     A deliverer was promised to Israel and they got a baby.  A baby who couldn’t even lift a finger to feed himself and yet He was the answer.

     Jesus had to come as a baby into this world to experience life like we did, to know the effects of sin, in order to become the High Priest who would understand our suffering.  He had to know what it was like to walk a life in our shoes. 

     Life isn’t what I think it is.  There’s so much more woven into it than my eyes can see.  

     As I think about the little baby who was placed in a manger, surrounded by animal smells and filth I see something I need to see.  To everything there is a season and a purpose under heaven.  

   Though the way things go down in this world can fool you, there’s more than meets the eye.  Surprises come when you least expect them in ways you cannot imagine.  What a surprise Jesus must have been, but oh what an answer He was.

©copyrighted: 2019  Julie H Todd

Jesus Is In The Boat©

     There’s a story in the gospels of the time Jesus and His disciples got into the boat and headed out to sea.  Suddenly a storm was upon them. Jesus was resting in the middle of the boat while the disciples were panicking with the thought of their impending doom.  They imagined the worst, they feared for their lives. They woke Jesus up and said to Him, “Don’t you care that we’re going to drown?” Immediately Jesus commanded the storm, speaking peace and stillness and then he turned to them to ask, “Why are you fearful?”  “Have you lost your faith in me?”

     As I was reminded of this story yesterday at church I knew the words spoken were allowing me to relate right where I was in this life. “Jesus is in the boat”.  

     The disciples didn’t see what they had right in their midst.  I often don’t see it either.

     All it takes is for my normal life to take a detour in some form or fashion.  The boat starts to get rocked as the storm revs up and suddenly I am wondering what’s going to happen next? How I will survive?  It’s easy for my focus to get altered. It’s easy to feel the doom and gloom that circumstances seem to bring. It’s all in the way I think about it, I’m discovering.  I get sucked into fear and sometimes a bit of panic.  

     The noise of the world is loud.  It blares a message at me telling me how much we are lacking.  It throws the “what if” questions at me catapulting me into thoughts of the future. It pulls and sucks me in and before I know it I’ve lost all perspective and find myself much like the disciples in that boat.  “Do you even care?”

     We’ve been in this “joblessness” place for 6 months.  It’s been a challenge to not get sucked in and discouraged as we’ve watched things pass by and heard the silence.  David and I have had our moments, his with rejection, mine with fear. I can easily fall into that place where I fear for my life.  What will happen to us if a job doesn’t ever come along? The world tells me we are getting old and it’s going to be harder and I believe and suddenly I feel the freak out stirring inside me.  

     Jesus is in the boat.  He’s right here with me, all the time.  It’s so easy to lose sight of that. It’s easy to hear the words shouting at me, telling me, things just aren’t looking good.  The world tells me what I lack. Jesus reminds me of all that I have in Him. He overcame the world a long time ago. He works all the hard things that it throws at me into good.  He’s the calm in the storm.

    I succumb to fear because I forget that Jesus is in it all.  He’s right smack dab in the middle of my life. He is the peace in the hurricane, the comfort in the day to day.  The world can shout at me pulling me into its grip. Yet there is nothing in this world that overwhelms Him.

    It hits me as I consider Jesus’ words to the disciples.  “Why are you afraid?” “Have you lost faith in me?” It’s kinda what happens to me when I start to spiral down.  I see the world and it all becomes so daunting because there are just so many demands. By its standards there is much that we lack.

     I’ve read perspectives about how tired Jesus was and that he was so tired that even a storm couldn’t wake him.  But, I think there is more to this story, at least there is to me. Jesus rested because he knew God was with him in the middle of his every day.  He didn’t panic, or fear for his future because He knew God had him. He knew God was good. He knew he was loved.

    As I considered Jesus’ question I felt something latch onto me.  The storms will come in this world and some days they will look as if they are going to take me down yet that’s not the end of the story.  He’s in the middle of it with me. He is the peace in the middle of it all. I am loved beyond my wildest imagination. He will never stop being good in the midst of the bad.

    I don’t know how long it’s going to take for a job to open up for David.  I don’t know what tomorrow holds, how the finances will go, how our health will be as we continue to age.  But I’m beginning to see that to get swept up in all those unknown variables is the panic of this world. It pulls my focus into places that I cannot figure out or know the answer to which can lead me to  panic if I don’t see him with me.

    The disciples didn’t have much of a clue of who they had in their boat.  Truth be told I’ve acted much like they did. I want to get on the other side of that.

    The One who created the heavens and the earth, whom all of this belongs to is smack dab in the middle of it all with me.  I am not alone. I am not lost. I am not forgotten. He’s here in the center, always with me.

    The words Jesus spoke to the storm He speaks to me.  “Peace, be still”. “I’m here with you.” As the noise of the storm begins to die down I am gifted with the opportunity to see He is with me, always and forever.

    There’s an old hymn that says it best.  “Turn your eyes upon Jesus.” “Look full in His wonderful face.”  “And the things of earth will grow strangely dim.” “In the light of His glory and grace.”

©copyrighted: 2019 Julie H Todd