Christmas time produces a wide range of emotions and feelings in many of us. The holiday season before and even after Christmas Day is filled with preparation, shopping, travel and activities unlike any other time of the year. For so many, the impact of all the Christmas rush can leave an accompanying sense of anxiety, depression or sadness. During the holidays, it is easy to overspend, overeat and over indulge. Families are scattered around the world, making it difficult to join together in celebration of the birth of Christ into our world.

Even though Jesus was born in the midst of chaos and bedlam in ancient Bethlehem, God has promised us the gift of peace, joy, hope and love and God has delivered the perfect present in Christ. Joseph and Mary, while struggling to understand fully God’s plan for them, overcame their confusion and doubt to discover the rich blessing God offered them. Likewise, shepherds from fields and Magi from the Orient came to witness the love of God for the world revealed in Jesus and were changed by it.

This Christmas, find time to pause, slow down and become aware of the hurried pace that has the potential to overwhelm and capture you. Make a special effort to place yourself in a setting, like the characters of the first Christmas morn, where God can break through the hustle and rush of your life and touch you. Give yourself an opportunity to hear the Christmas story and find that the ordinary routine of your world can be transformed by the extraordinary power of God.

Christmas time is a time to discover, to behold and to worship. May God greet you in a new way this Christmas season.