Day 356

Zechariah 2:1–3:10; Revelation 13:1-18; Psalm 141:1-10; Proverbs 30:18-20

WE’RE ONLY DAYS away from Christmas. If we have children, they may be counting down the hours at this point. Some of us are preparing to travel, while others are making preparations to receive family —whether from across town or from distant lands.

Coming back together is a joyous time, as it should be. Those who were ever present in our formative years as siblings, parents, uncles, aunts, and cousins are reunited with us. But even though we may have grown into adulthood and have families of our own or we’ve moved to another city and begun building our own life, it doesn’t take long for us to fall back into the role we played when we were younger. Soft places within us begin to be touched. Old words of teasing or scorn may creep in. The idiosyncrasies between generations and convictions begin to rub against one another, and before we see it coming, something volatile gets said —words that are pregnant and could give birth to a bad day.

We encountered a prayer in the book of Psalms today that offers incredible advice for navigating this time of year:

Take control of what I say, O LORD, and guard my lips. Don’t let me drift toward evil or take part in acts of wickedness. Don’t let me share in the delicacies of those who do wrong.

Let the godly strike me! It will be a kindness! If they correct me, it is soothing medicine. Don’t let me refuse it.

King David provided us the words to this prayer, but the psalm compels us to make choices now, before the first gift is unwrapped. In the heat of the moment, words may form and be spat into the world before they can be withdrawn. We must remember that who we once were —even who we were when we began this journey together through the Bible —is not who we are now, and we can choose to bring light and life and good news into situations where we would have once brought darkness. These decisions must be made in advance, however.

Let’s remember, this is the season that reveals God’s unwillingness to withdraw from our story. It shows us how deeply He longs to be part of our lives, and how intensely He wants to be with us no matter who we are —including those with whom we often find ourselves in conflict. The joy of Christmas is ours to give or ours to withhold.

May you embody the spirit of Christmas, knowing that literally billions of brothers and sisters the world over are celebrating with you. May you be a light that shines the Kingdom’s brightness as we celebrate the arrival of the Savior. May wherever you step be holy ground because the Spirit of the Living God dwells within you, and may you choose to speak words that bring life to your family in the coming days.

MEDITATION:

And on that day, says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, each of you will invite your neighbor to sit with you peacefully under your own grapevine and fig tree.