Tuesday, Dec 21, 2021

“Choose Option C”

Yep! Just four more days until Christmas! Today is a mess; today is also calm. Today is bothersome; today is also peaceful. I’ve got some unhappiness, but truth be told, life is joyful. As the countdown nears my favorite day, I find that the chaotic problems are intersecting with the joyful calm that only Christmas can create. It’s really odd and, every year, I expect it. Now that I’m seeing it, I have to admit: Christmas is really incredible!

Only Christmas can take a completely messed up situation and bring a lifetime of blessings from it. When Mary told Joseph that she was pregnant and that the baby was conceived by God, I’m fairly certain Joseph felt like he had been kicked by the mule in the backyard. There’s no way that Joseph could make any sense of what Mary was saying. According to religious law, Joseph had only two choices: Option A – Divorce Mary (they weren’t even married yet), or Option B – Turn her in the authorities, likely resulting in her death.

God had a different plan! God sent an angel to encourage Joseph to choose Option “C”: Keep Mary and take her as his wife, a choice that human law and tradition didn’t provide. Am I the only one who is amazed by that?

God always provides an option when it looks like there’s no hope! It’s an option that provides and protects life. We might feel as though everyone is frowning upon us and our messed-up situation. Let ‘em frown. God is smiling and giving us another option.

Choose “Option C”. Choose Christmas.

“…An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit’…When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife.” (Matthew 1:20b, 24, NRSV)