Green Pastures and Still Waters
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Morel mushrooms, an animated Baby Yoda, a needle in a haystack… You can finish the sentence for yourself. Remote controls, keys, cell phones etc., all get on the list at some point. Some things are hard to find. Peace is one of those “things.” It’s more abstract than a material object but it is more elusive for many people than a Bluebird in a Michigan winter. For all the searching and all the effort, you’d think peace would be easier to find. One of my favorite Rock songs from the 70’s (sorry Mom), is Boston’s, “Peace of Mind.” The writer would happily have given up upward mobility and material wealth to have one thing, “peace.” I don’t know if he ever found it, the song was a longing with no conclusion. Of course there are many counterfeits to true peace. We know they are fake because they only provide short term relief. They mask the symptoms of anxiety and we can convince ourselves we are “fine.” “It’s fine, I’m fine, everything is fine.” But, deep down, we know that is a mantra without substance. The announcement of the angelic army had substance. Peace is available through a Person. Savior. Christ. Lord. Prince of Peace. According to the angels, peace is available to those on whom God’s favor rests. Does that make you curious? Does it make you ask, “How could I get God’s favor to rest on me?” Tune in Sunday…in person or online. 
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Crawl. Walk. Run. Our advancement in mobility is just one example of the principle of progression. It’s true in scholastic life, in playing an instrument and in our spiritual lives as well. The Advent themes illustrate this progression; Hope. Faith. Joy. In a book I’ll mention briefly on Sunday, authors Willard and Simpson write, “Hope is the anticipation of a good that is not yet here. Hope is closely related to faith. Faith is confidence grounded in reality.” As I mentioned last week, faith is hope willed to action. Because we have hope in the character and promises of God we live by faith. We make choices based on God’s “say-so.” We choose to do or not do something because we have confidence in God’s Word. One of those choices is Joy. Our feelings may not be happy and our circumstances may be very undesirable but we can still rejoice in the Lord. Rejoicing in the Lord is not equal to saying “uncle.” God is not trying to force something out of us to stroke His ego. Rejoicing in the Lord is for our good! If we choose to nurse and rehearse our wounds and hurts, we’ll quickly spiral into despair. However, if we, in hope and by faith begin to rejoice in the Lord, it will retrain our emotions to what we were made for…joy! C.S. Lewis once wrote, “Joy is the serious business of Heaven.” The shepherds received good tidings of great joy, which were intended for all people—that means us. Let’s rejoice in the Lord! It’s our destiny.