“O Holy night, a weary world rejoices”
– One of my favorite lines from one of my favorite Christmas carols
I’ve been reading through Isaiah the past couple of weeks-
and, chapter after chapter, it talks about humanity and all of its brokenness.
It talks about a weary world, bound with the chains of laws and in bondage to their own sin.
Then, in chapter fifty-three, Jesus, our Savior, enters the picture and turns the entire book around.
He says, “For a brief moment, I abandoned you, but with great compassion, I will take you back”
“For the mountains may move and the hills disappear,
but even then, my faithful love for you will remain.
My covenant of blessing will never be broken.”
This Christmas, I have found myself unbearably and overwhelmingly grateful for a Savior who came at just the right time.
I am flooded with adoration for our sweet Jesus who not only utterly altered the trajectory of a book in the bible, but the world- and, ultimately, my own life.
And, truthfully, I can’t think of a more beautiful representation of the heart of this season.
I’ve spent the past five months running all about this beautiful earth.
It is broken, and it is weary.
It is full of aching, longing, and hunger that I cannot fill, and that I have hardly experienced a fraction of.
But, friends, Jesus can fill all of the cracks, the brokenness, and the longing that we cannot.
He does, and He has, so faithfully- over and over and over again.
That, sweet friends, is the very reason He came.
And, this weary world- it rejoices.
It recognizes our Savior, our Lord, and it moves along with the beat of His heart.
It runs, head first, deeper into His heart and His love- at times, it trudges towards more of Him, but it keeps moving. It keeps seeking.
The mountains, valleys, coursing rivers, and all of creation scream and shout of our Lord’s glory, goodness, and beauty.
His love and His grace are so loud in my own life.
I have experienced so much of His hope in my life, and in the lives of others.
It is because of Him, and His steadfast hope- that we can rejoice, and on this day, practice the art of celebration for a Savior that walked us straight into freedom thousands of years ago, and continues to walk us, and others, straight into freedom time and time again.
And so, friends, let us run to the mountaintops and let us scream and sing praises of His goodness.
Let us drop to our knees and throw up our hands in awe and thanksgiving, not just today, but allllll of the days of our lives.
And friends, alas-
Let us gather around our Christmas trees.
Let us eat entirely too many Christmas cookies (someone please eat like 27 on my behalf)
Let us hang tinsel, and wear five ugly Christmas sweaters at once, and drink gallons of egg nog.
Let us open gifts.
Let us be merry.
and, more than all of that, let us rejoice.
