The tears keep falling. Not so much tears of sorrow, as tears of bittersweet awe and amazement. Tears of profound respect. And tears of thankfulness for the unconquerable hope--in this sometimes hard, bewildering world--that was born on that Christmas Even over 2000 years ago.
Today, I saw Jesus in the flesh...and the picture changed me, made me tearful, thankful, yet contemplative. I saw Jesus in the flesh of a far-too-young wife and mama who lost her husband a few months back. And in her, I saw such courage, such love, such faith as she continues to live life, raise her children, pursue Christ...even with that big, empty, void of loneliness and sorrow. Yet she refuses to give in or give up.
It's grace lived out right before our eyes, in living color...and it's an indescribably beautiful and inspiring thing.
And I've seen it before--with friends who've lost children or spouses or long-cherished dreams. With friends battling cancer or depression or disease. Yet they keep putting one foot in front of the other, keep looking to the Lord for the grace for the next hour and the next minute...and He comes through again and again. Doesn't mean it's easy or painless for them. No, not at all, but He's always enough. He's always the manna needed for that day's strength.
None of these folks has any idea how they have inspired and awed me and so many others. Heroes rarely do, do they? And heroes come in so many shapes and sizes. Heroes as teachers. Heroes as soldiers. Heroes as Young Life leaders. Heroes as regular old folks finding themselves in difficult circumstances they never ever would have chosen, yet living by grace, by faith. And today my hero was in the guise of hard-working, grace-living, Jesus-reflecting, mom and widow.
Grace for the lonely, the exhausted, the discouraged, the fearful. Hope for the hard, dark places. Strength for the weak and worn. That's why He came--to redeem His own and bring forgiveness, grace, hope, peace, joy.
I couldn't help but think of these words by another one of my heroes, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian. Bonhoeffer, arrested for his courageous opposition to the Nazis and his part in a plot to kill Hitler, was imprisoned for two years during World War II and finally executed by the Nazis just weeks before the war's end. Here's what he wrote to his fiance while he was in prison:
"Be brave for my sake, dearest Maria, even if this letter is your only token of my love this Christmas-tide. We shall both experience a few dark hours--why should we disguise that from each other? We shall ponder the incomprehensibility of our lot and be assailed by the question of why, over and above the darkness already enshrouding humanity, we should be subjected to the bitter anguish of a separation we fail to understand...And then, just when everything is bearing down on us to such an extent that we can scarcely withstand it, the Christmas message comes to tell us that all our ideas are wrong, and that what we take to be evil and dark is really good and light because it comes from God. Our eyes are at fault, that is all. God is in the manger, wealth in poverty, light in darkness, succor in abandonment. No evil can befall us; whatever men may do to us, they cannot but serve the God who is secretly revealed as love and rules the world and our lives."
Thank You, Abba, for sending Jesus at Christmas. Thank You that You came to that lowly manger, that You are our wealth in poverty, that You are our Light in the darkness, and that You are succor in abandonment. Thank You, that as Corrie ten Boom once said in that darkest of places, a German concentration camp, "There is no pit so deep that God's love is not deeper still." Thank You that You are sovereignly in control of all things, all people, all circumstances, all places...all, all, all. And thank You that You will always and forever work out all things for good for those who love You and are called according to Your purpose. (Rom.8:28)
Thank You that we can trust even when we cannot see and have hope even when we do not understand...because You came. Oh thank You for coming...and for staying...forever. Our Emmanuel--God with us. And thank You for heroes who reflect Your glory and shine Your light in this dark world. What a beautiful, beautiful sight.
To God be the glory.
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