The other night, I attended my children’s Christmas pageant. Over the years, I’ve been to a lot of these. Usually, I have a pretty good idea of what to expect.

This time, it looked like the kids had popped sugar pills before starting the show. Which made it kind of fun. In a nervous parent sort of way. The energy levels stayed right around “barely constrained.”

But however close the kiddos threatened to come off the rails, they managed to avoid disaster and arrive at the end with everyone in one piece.

Except for Baby Jesus. Who seemed to take a beating throughout.

In spite of this, while the kids were careening their way through the pageant, I became reflective.

Context Matters

The Christmas story is set in a context of political and social unrest. Neither the historical or scriptural texts that record that period indicate that the leaders of the time were making decisions with the benefit of the population in mind. We do know people didn’t trust their leadership.

To satisfy a lazy bureaucratic requirement, a young family was required to relocate cross-country. This left them, at least for one night, homeless. They finally found a barn for shelter. This is very much one step from being homeless on the street. It’s where Mary gave birth.

The young mother, Mary, had no family or midwife around her. She was a newlywed. It was her first baby. She was probably scared.

We don’t know, but it seems that they had limited economic means. Joseph is probably feeling the stress of not really being able to provide for better accommodations, not knowing how to handle a birth, no idea of what the future held. Mary and Joseph were probably still learning how to communicate and problem-solve together.

It seems strange that no one stepped up to help a woman about to give birth. Maybe they arrived in town very late. Maybe Bethlehem wasn’t a very friendly town, or everyone was maxed out because of the influx of other families who were forced to return home. Maybe Mary and Joseph didn’t have the confidence to advocate for themselves.

Whatever it was, they were part of what we would call today the “vulnerable population.”

They didn’t know it yet, but in their very near future, they would narrowly avoid becoming victims of a targeted infanticide. While they survived, many did not. That must have impacted them, both having been targets and now survivors.

They were converted into political refugees and sought asylum in neighboring Egypt. Which, while neighboring, is still not nearby.

Vulnerability, poverty, lack of connections, lack of support, inadequate shelter, inadequate health care, political targets, death threats.

It’s a lot.

In today’s world, watching children in bathrobes reenact portions of the story, it’s difficult to connect to the grinding reality to what Joseph, Mary and the actual baby Jesus were facing.

Making Space for Peace & Joy

I’ve been reading High Performance Habits by Brendon Burchard. It’s a report on research his team conducted on high performing people and what it was that seemed to contribute to their high performance.

One of the findings is that high performing people are more likely to intentionally make space for the right things in their life. They don’t wait for things to finally get less busy. They don’t place an expectation on others for how they will feel, respond, or approach their lives.

They specifically make space for things like a sense of gratitude and happiness. They are intentional about this.

One of the central elements of the plot is that there was “no space at the inn”. This is a theme of the Nativity story. No space was made for this family.

To receive the gifts in life that have any real kind of meaning, we have to make room for them. We need to give them space.

This time of year, we send each other greeting cards wishing Peace & Joy to each other. But those are things that we have to make room for. We actually have to choose them.

I can’t harbor fear, resentment, jealousy or anxiety, and experience Peace or Joy. It’s just not possible. I have to choose to let the negative emotions go and then choose to allow peace and joy into my life.

If I want to offer Peace & Joy to those around me, I have to first receive those gifts into my own life.

Merry Christmas!

I have two hopes for you this Christmas.

My first hope is that this Christmas Season, you discover ways to make space for Peace & Joy in your life. That you are able to receive and experience these gifts in a way that is new for you.

My second hope is that you are able to make space for someone else in some way. And by doing so, sharing some of your own Peace & Joy.

Because we know that both Peace and Joy expand the more we share them with others.

Merry Christmas!

Christian