Thank God

Keeping watch…Luke 2:8

Before the birth of Jesus people were busy doing what people do. For the shepherds near Bethlehem, it meant living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night, Luke 2:8. You were doing what you did before you met Jesus. Then everything changed.

That night, shepherds were visited by an angel of the Lord, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid, verse 9. This angel of the Lord came to announce the birth of the Son of God, verse 11: For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign to you: you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger. The Jesus who changed everything in your life.

Then all heaven broke loose in praise, verse 13-14: And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

And so, it continues even today. On the day before the night before Christmas a family gathers to celebrate the birth of our Savior, Christ the Lord. Then it happens, among all the talk of the past year’s ups and downs someone says “Thank God.” Only this year it is one of the youngest who just blurts out, Thank God; like a “God bless you” after a sneeze. A reaction more than a response. Such is the praise from such a young heart that it stops the conversation.

Suddenly all the bad of the past is overshadowed by the great good of God. Suddenly parents realized, of all the things our children could have learned from our conversations, at least they learned one really good thing: Thank God. Suddenly it became clear: peace and goodwill is alive in the next generation. Thank God.