It’s there if you really look for it.
In the crazy pace of parties and present shopping, carols and Christmas cards, it is easy to pass it by. But look carefully and you’ll find it there, hiding away underneath that tree.
Search slowly through the candles and the prayers and the quiet advent days. It isn’t the biggest or the brashest present in that shining, gleaming Christmas pile, but it’s there.
You see, sometimes the best things are not the most obvious; the special things come in the most inconspicuous packages.
Amidst the joy and the celebration, or amidst the chaos and the pain; amongst the war and the bombs, the pictures in newspapers of children on beaches and mothers crying and the how will we get through this and celebrate when the world is suffering so much? That’s when it creeps in.
The best present He ever gave us. Wrapped in the finest paper and tied with the most beautiful bow.
To you, it says on the label. For you. For me.
You have to look sometimes, to search it out.
Underneath the weight and the rush of Christmas, it’s easy to miss it. To miss her as she calls out to the crowds on the high street and in the marketplace; calls out for a hearing and a heart that wants to heed its call. It’s a pearl of great price, she says, the one for which you’d give everything, lose everything, do anything, just to have.
And yet, He gives it free of charge. There for the taking, all the days of our lives.
Peace.
Peace that passes over our understanding and climbs above our circumstances. Peace that gathers us up, comforts and protects us, guards our heart and guards our minds.
Peace that lets me look out on the world and not drown in the despair. Peace that comes to still our heart and calm our mind. It’s not there to let us forget or ignore that which should never be ignored or forgotten, but it’s there to allow us not to be paralysed by the largeness of it all.
And there He is, there we find Him, our Christmas babe. God come down from His throne in heaven to be our Prince of Peace here on earth: to be the one that brings hope when all feels hopeless, joy when all feels lost, and peace when it feels like conflict is all we will ever feel again.
We unwrap this most precious of Christmas gifts and wonder at it anew. “I’m leaving you with a gift,” He whispers loud to our troubled hearts: “Peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give.” (John 14:27 NLT)
Peace.
“For unto us a child is born; unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be on his shoulder. These will be his royal titles: ‘Wonderful’, ‘Counsellor’, ‘The Mighty God’, ‘The Everlasting Father’, ‘The Prince of Peace’.” (Isaiah 9:6 NLT)