It’s the busy time of year – even if we are shedding cumber and making room, we (I?) can still find it stressful, tiring, or just a bit too much. It’s hard to be immune – even my 4 year old told me the other night, ‘I’m finding it hard to get to sleep because it’s just so exciting getting close to Christmas!’I didn’t really have response to that, except adapting the song we often sing at night on days that have been a bit too much – and in the end the wise words came from him. The below is the exchange that followed:
“He’s got the whole world in His hands,
He’s got Christmas and Easter, in His hands,
He’s got summer and families in His hands,
He’s got the whole world in His hands.”
“Mum, how does God have the world in his HANDS?”
“Well, I guess it just means that He’s with everything in the world, but He’s also bigger than it. He’s outside and around everything, as well right as with us.”
“Mum, did you know that God can feel all of our feelings? When we’re happy, He’s happy! And when we’re sad, He’s sad. And when we are all worried, He is worried for us. He feels our feelings, but He’s also BIGGER than them. So when we are scared or stressed, He is bigger than those feelings. He is right with us, but He is also outside and all around and over our feelings.”
I can’t think of much else to add, beyond a prayer that you feel God’s presence in and with you in whatever flux of feelings comes with this season – which is, after all, celebrating the birth of Emmanuel: God with Us.
Peace,
Lucy
Image: B. Goodhue, Dome of the Los Angeles Public Library.
Sanctuary 
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