What Do You Want for Christmas?

I want Peace.

While mailing a package at the post office this week, I became keenly aware of someone staring at me. It was that uneasy feeling of being watched, you know what I mean. At first, I looked around quickly and didn’t see the little boy peering over the table where I worked to affix a label. Unable to shake the feeling, I took a slower scan around the room and realized that my gaze was too high, and I suddenly noticed two dark eyes staring a hole through me. We exchanged pleasantries while he was waiting for his grandmother and aunt. I then asked the question of the season, “What do you want for Christmas?” 

He nervously shifted his feet as he stood near his grandma and finally answered, “MONEY! I want money!” His grandmother burst into laughter and exclaimed, “There you go! You’re listening to your grandma!” I wondered at that moment what he really wanted to say but knew she was waiting for the answer she had taught him to share.  

My family has been asking me what I want for Christmas this year (as with every other year).

For some of us, this Christmas is full of unmet or unrealized dreams. It’s been a year of change and adjustments, a year full of uncertainty, fear, and anxiety. It quite possibly has been a season of great grief. Or perhaps it’s a time of uncertainty about what’s next or financial pressure that we absolutely cannot remedy.

One word comes to mind continuously when I think of what I want for Christmas!  

Peace.  

Not the fleeting emotion of the moment or the kind of peace offered in the frenzy, fearful, sinful world of today but this – Jesus said these words – 

“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. (John 14:17 – NASB)

In John 14, Jesus is teaching and preparing the /us for what is to come. Jesus first comforts His disciples. He encourages them with promise and declares, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” He then speaks of our oneness with the Father, and next, He teaches about the Holy Spirit’s role in our lives. He laid out the key to living in peace when the world around us doesn’t make sense. You and I are living in such a time—a time of preparation for what is to come. I don’t think it will get easier. If we take our eyes off the ONE – we will have no peace.  

And this – 

You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you! (Isaiah 26:3 – NLT)

Do you see it? In the midst of all, we can have peace. The peace that passes understanding, as found in Philippians 4, 

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, (understanding) will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

So lets you and I 

1. Rejoice in the Lord – not in our circumstances
2. Lay aside our worry and fear – despite what the news or others are reporting
3. Pray without ceasing and about everything – He knows and hears us.
4. Give thanks in all things – Look for Him in all circumstances and be thankful
5. Be present with the LORD continually.  

Finally, Be still and ask Him to keep you focused!  

He has got you – I promise, but better, HE PROMISED.

So, in this season of pain, anguish, fear, anxiety, grief, division, perversion, war, and absolute craziness, will you join me and seek the Prince of Peace?  

I pray that you will.  

I am praying for peace from the Prince of Peace over you!