God gave us His peace - and His Son




 #Christmas #peace



The house rustles and glistens with Christmas wrappings, pretty cards and our lovely wreath. Cards fill the lounge shelves with the good news that the Saviour is born. Carols resound through the house calling all God’s people to come and worship Him.

It’s Christmas.

A card on my dressing table says ‘PEACE JOY HOPE’ and others say ‘peace’.

I gaze at the pretty card on my antique dressing table.

Peace . . .


My mind flicks back to 1971, June, a small bookmark poked into the frame of an old spotted mirror.

‘ You will keep in perfect peace, him whose mind is fixed on You, because he trusts in You’   Isaiah 26: 3 , it says.


Peace. One of the gifts that Jesus promised us. 
And how I needed it back then. Every day as I prepared for teaching, I battled anxiety at the thought of the unruly boys I’d face that day. Boys who were at school only because they were too young to leave, legally. Boys who broke the law and boasted about it. My stomach churned in anticipation each morning.

And I’d gaze at that little bookmark as I applied lipstick and tidied my hair. 
I'd imbibe the promised peace. 
I’d still my mind before Him and consciously put my trust in Him. 
And peace would envelop me.



This year I still need His peace. (Don’t we all?)

Amid the laughter of friends and family, the sorrow of friends who are old and frail now, some struggling with disease, or living with constant pain like my brother-in-law - amid all this I am still enjoying God’s peace.

I’m a bit overwhelmed and not as exuberant as usual this Christmas, but I have peace. And joy.  And I have His presence.

 






‘Away in a manger . . .’

It all began back then with Jesus’ birth. 
Thank you for the greatest gift of all.



‘Peace I give you,’ He would say later. ‘My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives   . . .’   ‘Do not let your heart be troubled and don’t let it be afraid . . .’ (John 14:27 -  my version ).

Peace that is calm amid storms. Ability to face turmoil.



I will always remember the little bookmark on my old, spotted mirror in the shabby, rented flat. I'll remember how it taught me to make God the centre of my thoughts and to begin to face my fears in God’s peace and strength.


First photo - Arlene Dodson
Second photo bing.com 

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