It has been recorded that while walking out in the woods one day, Martin Luther said to the birds:
“Good morning, theologians!
You wake and sing,
but I, an old fool,
know less than you and worry over
everything
instead of simply trusting in the
Heavenly Father’s care.”
How
convicting, eh? Birds are such a simple
(and prolific) reminder to us that God does care.
“Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor
reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are
you not of more value than they?”
Matthew 6:26
So, if
He cares for the seemingly small things such as sparrows and lilies (Matthew 6,
10, Luke 12)…
If He
says that He is good and does good (Psalm 119:68)…
If He
tells us He will never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5-6)…
If He
reminds us that He is near when we call (Psalm 145:18)…
Then we
can trust Him.
God
calls us to hope in Him and in His Word (Psalm 119:74, 114).
Christmas
is the reminder that The Word (Jesus) became flesh (John 1).
He didn’t
just see the world in pain/darkness…He cared for us by showing up to walk with us through it.
This
week I read a passage from Katherine Wolf’s Treasures in the Dark, and it
made Christmas that much more precious to me.
After experiencing a stroke at 26 and multiple health complications in
the following years, Katherine explained what had been most beneficial to her in
her pain:
“I have discovered the single foolproof response to
someone else’s pain: just show up.
Literally, physically, actually put your body in the same room as them if at all possible.
The great comfort of the Christian tradition is
the incarnation of Christ among us in the person of Jesus.
The Bible even calls Him by a name that means “God with us”.
Not “God over us” or “God kinda near by us.”
Incarnation – showing up in the flesh – is the final world in solidarity.”
(pg.
175-176)
This Christmas
season – may we give thanks that God shows up in any darkness or pain we
might be experiencing – and may we praise Him as consistently as the
theologians perched in the trees right outside our windows.
