A few months ago, soon after my Mom passed, we were cleaning out her apartment and needed to sell some of her furniture. My daughter suggested we post the items on FB Market Place. Soon after posting a couple wanted to come and see some of the furniture. As they looked and found other things they were interested in, we of course were interested in their story. They were missionaries home on a year furlough and needed to furnish their apartment. Immediately the Lord whispered to me “give them whatever they need” and so we did. God knew we had what they needed at the right time and He provided for them. What a blessing to get to know this wonderful couple and hear about their life in serving God in other countries.

Do you ever notice God’s timing? This Christmas I have been in wonder at God’s timing in this wonderful story. The couple, Mary and Joseph, the Shepherds, each one chosen for that moment of declaration. The timing of Jesus birth in that city, in that specific place, the stable and manger. Oh, I could go on and on. Find the story in the Bible, Luke chapters 1&2.

Now what about your story? Look back and see the timing of God in the circumstances of your life. I have and I am amazed at how He has graciously worked, and that I can give Him the glory for it all. It’s not at all by chance. It’s in God’s timing.

It seems that during the Christmas season I tend to spend time remembering Christmas past. In other words, getting nostalgic about what was. Anyway, that’s what I have been doing quite a lot this year. Remembering.

As a little girl I usually ended up being an angel in the church program (I had blonde hair) and we angels sang “Hark the Herald Angels Sing”. I was never Mary.
I have gotten over it.

Then there were the brown bags filled with peanuts in the shell, hard candy, chocolate candy and an orange or apple. These were given out after the choir program on Christmas Eve. I loved coming home, dumping out my brown bag of goodies on the dining room table, and searching for the chocolate.

The many Christmas trees as a child; the ones sprayed white with blue lights, the trees that were too short and ended up standing on 2 Sears catalogs to make them look taller. When I had my own family, putting up the tree with White Christmas on the TV and drinking hot chocolate. Makes me smile when I remember.

I’m sure we could sit and remember those Christmas’s past and enjoy the stories that we could all share. Some with laughter, some with tears because we miss our loved ones who are not here to remember with.

In Luke chapter 2 we read that Mary treasured and pondered all the events that were happening that first Christmas. She was remembering. I wonder how often she would go back to those events and remember in awe of what God had done.

Let’s remember, as Mary did, the marvelous events surrounding the birth of our Savior. God did that just for you and me.

Merry Christmas!