Peace Has Come! Are you too busy to notice?

I don’t know about you, but there have been more than a few times in the last few days when I have felt this sense of intense panic. Time slipped away, and there were way too many things still undone and just too little time left to accomplish what needed to be accomplished. And then there was that unplanned, unbelievable situation that caught me off guard, caused deep grief and tremendous heartache, and for a while, I completely lost focus. In more than one stressful moment, I heard the ugliness of sarcasm slip across my lips and spill its poison to the man who loves me most.

I failed again.

I got so wrapped up in making the moments special and trying to make things happen as planned that I almost let myself get sucked into the chasm of overwhelmingly meaningless hoopla. So I stole away for a few minutes of peacefulness, a place where I could refocus and redirect. I simply took the time to breathe, and He met me there, in the upper room of my mother’s home, when twenty-four guests were downstairs talking, laughing, sharing, and even singing. But for that moment, in that upper room, all was still; all was quiet. He offered peace, perfect peace. The Prince of Peace met me there in the middle of my mess.

I imagine Bethlehem, in the midst of tax season, was a mess, a terrible mess. The town was crowded, maybe like the stores and the malls in these last few days before Christmas. The people were short-tempered. Many of them had traveled great distances, and the inns were all completely full. Just think for a moment what it must have been like. Dusty. Dirty. Loud. Busy. Chaotic.

But there, in the middle of the madness, in the middle of the mess, the Prince of Peace made His debut. Among the tremendous crowds of people, a town overflowing with residents and travelers alike, He was there among them, and they didn’t even know. Think about it; a host of heavenly angels proclaimed the news to shepherds in a field NEARBY, and no one in the town even noticed. They were so busy with their own agendas, they weren’t aware that Peace had come.

Are you overwhelmed, distracted by your own agenda: the shopping, the baking, the preparing, the planning? Peace has come, and He’s waiting for you. Steal away for a few moments to refocus and redirect. In the middle of your madness, He will meet you there too.