Chaos

She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21 NIV

You didn’t think we could get to the season of Christmas without some thoughts on the matter, did you? In the words of the song , ‘It’s a Jungle Out There’, and you will know that as you do any last minute shopping and you try to get a place to park your car and then elbow your way through the masses of shoppers. Not funny, but is this really part of what Christmas is all about? It becomes a chaotic world as we all try our best to get everything done before the big day, and no one knows that better than mothers as they try to get their family safely through Christmas. Was it always like this?

We may have sidelined Jesus, the Christ, out of the season but he and his family were also stuck in the middle of a chaotic world when the baby Jesus made an entrance. If you think it is a frantic world at Christmastime now, take a moment and think about Mary and Joseph. They were forced by the rulers of their day to take a trek to their hometown, with thousands of others, just to be counted. No reliable 4x4 to take them, but a donkey! Not a nice paved road, just a track. No 24 hour shops along the way to stop and do some retail therapy, just very basic places to stop for essential rest. Oh and did I say that Mary was very pregnant? How do you think she felt as they bumped along the way, and a caring Joseph would be very anxious for the safety and security of his wife. In a land controlled by soldiers, nothing was sure. They couldn’t even get a half decent place to rest when they got there, just a stable, and of course the baby was born right there. If ever there was a chaotic time for this wee family, this was it!

So if you get to feeling that this is a crazy time of year, and it is nothing but disorganised chaos, you would be right, but when it all started 2,000 years ago, the world was also unsafe, and more chaotic than we can imagine. Let’s be thankful for all that we have, and the greatest gift we could have been given by our Heavenly Father, the baby who became our salvation, Jesus the Christ, also known as the Messiah, Emmanuel, God WITH us, who came to save His people (that’s us!) from their sins. Now, wasn’t all that original chaos worth it? Yes, and a resounding Amen!

Have a Happy and Blessed (even if chaotic) Christmas!!