Moments With God.
Advent Week 2
PEACE
Saturday, December 11
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PEACE: Putting Priorities in Place.
Peace comes when we put our priorities in place...it is not WHAT our priority is, but WHO, that makes the difference.
My life is wrapped up in being a parent these days. So, when I looked up my writing assignment for this Advent Season, I anticipated that I would try to work some aspect of parenting into my essay. My assignment, you ask? PEACE!!! Peace and parenting? Is that an oxymoron? A contradiction in terms? Some days it does seem like it, but what a blessing children are!! And putting God FIRST in your parenting and in your family does bring peace to your life.
After discovering my assignment, I decided to focus on one of my favorite parents...Mary. I have always imagined that she had peace in her life as a parent to Jesus. I'm sure it wasn't easy, but somehow I cannot imagine Mary, as she was making that long trip to Bethlehem, "great with child," ranting and raving to Joseph about how hard that trip was going to be. "I mean, really, Joseph, can't you just go without me? I'm just too tired to ride a donkey all that way!!! There's no place to put the layette in case the baby comes while we're gone. Did you make reservations at that Inn I told you about? You didn't? Oh, great, now what are we going to do? I'd hate to have this baby in a barn, Joseph." Peace? Yes, I believe Mary had her priorities in place, doing God's will. And I also believe she sensed a peace that only God can give.
Fast-forward thirty-plus years...the cross. Her Son, in pain, dying. Peace? Could Mary possibly have been at peace in her soul when her beloved Child was being crucified? One of my favorite songs deals with the emotion Mary must have felt when her Son was hanging on that cross. "I rocked Him as a baby. I held Him as a child. I heard Him call my name out in the night. I helped Him take his first steps; I cried when He said His first words. How I wish they all could see through a mother's eyes." Peace? I like to think that God gave her an extra measure of peace during that very difficult time in her life, as well.
I treasure my Parenting Bible and read from it often. In the introduction to the book of Haggai, the author, Dr. Lawrence O. Richards, writes,
"Haggai preached three sermons in 520 BC that stimulated the people who had returned to Judah from Babylon in 538 BC to complete the rebuilding of the Jerusalem temple. The returnees had found a land gone back to wilderness after seven decades of abandonment. They struggled to make a living and never seemed able to get ahead. Haggai's message to them was simple: Put God First.
The people responded to this message. They went to work with enthusiasm to complete the temple. Two months later Haggai delivered yet another message from God. Because the people had actually put God first, God promised, "from this day on I will bless you." (Haggai 2:19).
Putting God first is another of those vital principles that we as Christian parents will want to build into our children's lives. To do so, we must put God first in our own lives. When we do, we too invite and will receive rich blessings from our God."
Peace…not a REASON to put God first, but a RESULT.
May you also find Peace this Advent Season…
Dana Grant
Tucson, Arizona
Mom to TWO blessings….
When we look at it logically, we so often find a contradiction in terms like "peace" and "in the midst of turmoil or sorrow." We find Your peace when we turn to you first. Your constancy in our lives brings us peace. Then we are ready to face anything that might come our way.
Sometimes we get bowled over by what happens around us, but turning to you brings it all together again. We accept your gift of peace this day in Jesus Christ.
Amen
[Psalms 30,32] [Haggai 2:1-19] [Revelation 3:1-6] [Matt. 24:1-14]
or suggestions to Yvonne Edwards .
Edited: Dec 2, 1999 1:00 p.m.
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