It’s Christmas Eve! Who still has presents to wrap? Things to prep for tomorrow’s dinner? Stockings to stuff? One last errand to run?

STOP IT!

At least for a moment, stop your rushing around, reviewing your plans, and overthinking. We have one last chance to pause at the manger … just you and the Lord … before tomorrow’s happy chaos begins. So take a deep breath and let’s focus on the angelsong. If you listen really closely, you can hear it even now:

Luke 2 (New Revised Standard)

⁸ In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹ Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: ¹¹ to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” ¹³ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,

¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
    and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”

And couldn’t this be our song today as well? A praise chorus to God, who sits in the highest heaven and provides everything we need. An offering of glory to the One who sent his only son to be born, to live with us, and to die on a cross so that we might live with Him in that same heaven. An angelsong of peace, sung to our fellow brothers and sisters all around the world. Luke invites us to join the chorus, not so much with our voices, but with our actions, our attitudes, and our choices. We are called to be givers of peace.

¹⁵ When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” ¹⁶ So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. ¹⁷ When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; ¹⁸ and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. ¹⁹ But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰ The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

My prayer for you today and tomorrow is that you would be like Mary, and treasure all of these words and ponder them in your heart. As you go about your day now, as family celebrations take your attention away, and as the merriment of Christmas fills your home, may the true spirit of the Christ-mass stay foremost in your heart and in your song.

You all are my angels. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for reading At Water’s Edge every day.