A sheepfold was not the environment one would select for the birth of a child.  A feed trough was not the preferred place to cradle a new born-especially this One.  But He had finally arrived and Mary and Joseph beamed with parental pride.  When local shepherds rushed to see the baby and reported a supernatural encounter with the glory of God, their hearts must have warmed with wonder at His plan and purpose.  Imagine their astonishment when many months later magi from the Far East paid a visit to worship the child and offered gifts that provided unexpected wealth for this family of meager means.

     Mary and Joseph must have retraced the steps that had brought them to this unfathomable place.  But it had not been an easy road.

     For Mary the journey began with a surprise visit from one of heaven's most prominent angels, Gabriel.  He declared that she had been chosen for the overwhelming assignment of Messiah's mother.  In accepting, her stable world of family and faith would be shaken.  Her dreams of marriage and motherhood would be altered beyond recognition.  Walking the immediate road of God's will would be hard indeed.

     How do you explain to family that your pregnancy is supernatural and not an immoral act?  How to you tell your future husband that you have not betrayed his love when every human reality screams infidelity?  Who do you talk to when you walk the path of God's will alone?

     Joseph would feel the excruciating emotional pain of betrayal by his beloved.  He would agonize over decisions no young man should have to make-until God let him in on the plan.  But why put him through such anguish?  Why delay revelation of the truth to one so central to the divine drama?

     The will of God is seldom a certain and uncomplicated path.

     There would be no wedding celebration for the young couple.  Family would turn their backs, not open their arms.  They would leave their home town with little more than the clothes they wore to travel to Joseph's ancestral home. It would be a difficult journey prompted not only by legal decree, but family rejection.

     We typically believe that when we are centered in the will of God, moving in perfect alignment with His plan that we are in life's sweet spot.  Nothing, it seems, could be easier or more desirable.  In reality, nothing could be further from the truth.

     There were never two people more perfectly centered in the stream of God's divine plan and purpose than Joseph and Mary; no two people more submissive to the will of God; and no two people whose lives felt the distress of adversity more intensely because of that obedience.  To be in the center of God's will can often be a hard place to dwell.

     And yet, it is the best place.

     That first century road to the manger was quite dark and difficult.  The questions and uncertainties far outnumbered the answers.  But the day they held Messiah in their arms and heard the testimony of shepherds, they knew the will of God was the only place they wanted to be.

     You can find that true as well.  Ask God to place you in the center of His will.  Respond obediently as He calls and leads.  Accept the doubts and difficulties that accompany His purpose.  Then watch and wait for the fulfillment of the divine plan in and through your life.  As you do, you will find personal joy and blessing that will rival that of the first Christmas.

     Joseph and Mary were never sorry they traveled that road.  Neither will you.

Glory to God in the highest heaven and peace on earth. Luke 2:14

     It was December, 1914 on the Western Front of World War I.  Soldiers on both sides of No Man's Land were battle weary and fighting had slowed as they awaited reinforcements.

     As Christmas approached something remarkable began to take place.  It is recorded in letters and personal testimony of soldiers who were there.  A few have written extensively of the event trying to provide credibility to an ignored segment of the war's history-the Christmas truce.

     The little known truce seems to have been spontaneously ignited at various points and times across the front lines by sparks of Christmas peace and goodwill.  It is thought by some to have encompassed as much as two thirds of the length of that conflict demarcation.

     On Christmas Eve of 1914, one first-hand account tells of German soldiers placing small Christmas trees and candles at the top of their trenches.   As the Christmas spirit began to take hold placards were hoisted from both sides requesting No Shooting and extending a greeting of Merry Christmas.  Before long, soldiers on both sides began to crawl from their trenches.  English and Germans cooperated to bury the dead and remove the wounded.  Fires were built and enemies of war huddled around them together.  Gifts of chocolate and cigars were even exchanged. 

     When Christmas morning dawned, the peaceful gestures continued.  The sounds of Silent Night and other well-known carols began to rise above the battlefield as soldiers from both sides joined their voices in Christmas praise.  Once again soldiers left their battle lines and joined in fellowship on the bloodied ground of No Man's Land.  Some accounts tell of soccer games played and meals shared.

     Stanley Weintraub, in his book Silent Night:  The Story of the World War I Christmas Truce quotes one soldier's poignant words, Never.was I so aware of the insanity of war.

     The spontaneous truce would not last.  In some cases fighting began the next day.  At other points along the front hostilities were postponed into January.  But the war could not be halted.  Four more years of fighting would take the lives of over 8 million soldiers with nearly 20 million more wounded.  The insanity of war would replace those cherished moments of Christmas peace.

     Scottish poet, Frederick Niven, in his work A Carol from Flanders pays tribute to that historically ignored moment of light in the darkness of a terrible war.

                                                O ye who read this truthful rime

                                                From Flanders, kneel and say:

                                                "Godspeed the time when every day

                                                Shall be as Christmas day."

     The next time Jesus comes it will be.  War and hatred will be made extinct.  Christmas peace will rule every day for all eternity.

            Thank God for His Son-a gift too wonderful for words.--2 Corinthians 9:15

     You could call it a gift war.

     Larry received a pair of mole-skin pants as a Christmas gift while attending St. Cloud University.  But wearing the slacks in the cold, northern climate caused them to stiffen, making them uncomfortable to wear.  So the following year he smartly re-gifted them to a friend who found the trousers just as miserable.  The friend Christmas wrapped them the next year and gave them back. 

     And so began a gift exchange that continued for a decade.

     Larry's friend eventually served the first volley of creative mole-skin pants gift-giving.  One year he stuffed them into a thin one-inch tube.  The next year Larry countered by compressing them into a small square and wrapping the slacks with wire.  The friend then ramped up the gifting game by placing the pants in a two-foot-square crate, filling it with rocks, nailing it shut, and banding it with steel.  Not to be outdone, Larry mounted the now well-traveled trousers in an insulated window with a twenty-year guarantee and shipped the package to his dumfounded friend the following Christmas.

     The pants came back to Larry the next holiday season in a small coffee can, soldered shut and placed in a five-gallon container filled with concrete and rebar-rod.  The pants returned to the friend a year later in a 225-pound homemade ashtray constructed from eight-inch steel casing.  The pants had to be extracted at a repair shop using a cutting torch and hydraulic press.

     It was a relief to Larry when the pants did not show up at Christmas the next year.  It looked like his friend had tired of the gifting game and the pants-present was history. 

     Not so.

     When Larry returned to work after the holidays, he found a red-and-green-striped, 600-pound safe waiting for him in his office.  The mole-skin pants had returned in all their holiday glory!

     We've all received Christmas presents we've returned or re-gifted.  To us they were unusable, unattractive, unwanted.  We've probably chosen not to expend time and resources like Larry to play an exchange game with our bad taste gift-giver and, considering his experience, that's probably a good move.

     Thankfully, when God gave that first Christmas, He showed no bad judgment and played no games with us.  He gave the Son, God in infant flesh.  It was a gift at once miraculous, momentous, and mystifying.  It was a gift more meaningful than the human mind could possibly appreciate.

     It was the gift we all needed; one that those who came to understand its value would never return.

     Over the centuries, multitudes have rejected the gift.  Others seem to accept it, then angrily return it.  But those who have truly embraced God's Christmas gift with a sincere and trusting heart have found the gift of a lifetime.  In fact, more than that, they've found the gift of life that will keep giving for all eternity.

     At this wonder-filled season, please consider accepting Jesus as God's gift to you. Experience the one and only gift that truly can be described as too wonderful for words.