The Mom Crowd

During Advent, we often hear the word peace:  “Peace on earth, good will toward men.”  “Sleep in heavenly peace.”  “His law is love and His gospel is peace.”  Isaiah 9:6 says, “For a child is born to us, a son given to us.  And the government will rest on his shoulders.  These will be his royal titles: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”  Just by being born, Jesus brought peace to our broken planet.  Hallelujah!

Someone asked me yesterday if I thought “peace on earth, and good will toward men” (on a global scale) was really possible for us to achieve.  I pondered it for awhile and concluded that, no, it isn’t.  Man is fallen.  We are sinful beings.  We can strive for it, but it won’t be here with any form of longevity until Jesus returns.   We discussed how nations are at war, and nations are made up of broken communities formed by sinful people.  Relationships are constantly being torn apart.  The brokenness we have with others is what prevents peace from existing.

So I turned inward.  I started examining my relationships and how Christmas is as good a time as any to get going on some reconciliation.  I know I can’t tackle the entire mountain of brokenness in my life at once, but I can start on one piece.  God has been speaking to my heart this past week that the time has come to approach a friend with whom I have not been spending time.  We had a disagreement in the spring, and our friendship has suffered as a result.  Though we were both in the wrong, I have been closed off in my heart towards her, and the Holy Spirit was nudging me to stop.  I prayed in faith that God would help me approach my friend when the time was right.  For me, making an effort to connect one-on-one again would be an act of faith that God could restore what was broken.

On Sunday morning, I acted vulnerably and asked my friend if she would be interested in hanging out with me.  (I know this sounds very basic to a friendship, but we haven’t done this for 8 months!)  She responded very happily and readily.  I don’t know if the Spirit will lead me to share what prompted my actions (I’m fine either way), but I am glad that this Advent, I will be celebrating Christ’s birth with a very personal thankfulness for His supreme example of reconciliation. 

I hope that you, too, will experience Advent in a personal, redemptive way this year.  Have a wonderful week.