I recently heard a message about the reality of the “Silent Night” in which baby Jesus arrived. The speaker mentioned that historically, it was more likely that Jesus arrived into an overly crowded, messy extended family with noise and people, not to mention animals…everywhere. Think about that for a second, a tiny baby showing up in the middle of a house crammed to overflowing, opinionated relatives all around and the chaos of too much stuff and too little space. Sound similar to your Christmas gatherings? And yet, this was the setting of the arrival of the “Prince of Peace”, the realization of God’s kingdom, “on earth as it is in heaven.”
I wonder if everyone in that little town recognized the miraculous moment that they were experiencing… or did some just miss it completely?
What if there was a miracle about to happen somewhere in your crowded agenda today? A miracle that you could experience or a miracle that you could miss. Does the first option sound good?
Listen to this tip on miracle experiencing from Psalm 46:10, “Be Still, and know that I am God.” “Be Still”, or in other versions, stop fighting, let go, let be, cease striving, desist, return, be in awe.
Take a moment to memorize this Psalm 46:10 phrase right now. Then try an experiment. Repeat this as your mantra today whenever you are experiencing internal or external chaos, putting your name in front of the words, “Be Still.” And, in that moment, see if God steers your attention to notice something small or invites you into something you could have missed, maybe even a miracle. A miracle that will light up your heart with the same message brought into a broken world by a tiny baby, “Emmanuel, God With Us.”
— Kristy Dees, College & Young Adult Pastor
