How can I reflect my faith this Christmas season, even when things don’t go as planned?

Every year I say, “This Christmas season is going to be different. This year the frenzied, frantic, flurry of activity won’t be my norm for December. I’ll start early enough. I’ll say no and set boundaries. After all, Christmas comes the same day every year! It doesn’t have to be chaotic.”

But every year that one unplanned—and sometimes unwelcome—disruption has a cataclysmic effect on the entire season.

I wonder if Joseph felt like that. He was just looking forward to life together with his wife. He couldn’t have known Mary would be found pregnant without his involvement, much less that the child would be the Son of God.

“Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity” (Ephesians 5:15,16).

What about Mary? She knew she was having a baby. And she definitely knew it was under unusual circumstances. But how could she predict a government decree that would require her to travel so that she would be left with only a manger for her newborn child?

Or the shepherds? Their lives didn’t revolve around people. They planned to be outside all night watching sheep. They couldn’t have imagined that a host of angels proclaiming peace on earth would compel them to go into the city to see what had happened.

And yet, despite the upheaval, Joseph, Mary, and the shepherds weren’t frenzied or frantic. They responded with obedient, deliberate, and enthusiastic action that reflected their faith and understanding of God’s plan to bring Jesus into the world. Joseph obeyed God and named the child Jesus. Mary treasured all those things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds saw Jesus and left, praising God and telling everyone what they had seen and heard.

Can I do the same?

God’s plan still is to bring Jesus to the world. “[He] wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). To do that, he just might have to disrupt my plans, readjust my priorities, and change my expectations this Christmas season. No amount of planning, living predictably, or playing it safe is going to prevent that.

So, maybe, what’s different this year is my response. Instead of being frenzied and frantic, I can respond with obedient, deliberate, and enthusiastic action that reflects my faith and understanding of God’s plan to bring Jesus to the world.

Author: Dawn Schulz
Volume 111, Number 12
Issue: December 2024