Christmas Devotional: “A Miracle in the Mess”

As the Christmas season rolls around, life seems to get out of control.

Consider Mary’s story. After Mary’s acceptance of the promise, her life is turned upside down. Everything became chaotic and life became a mess. And so, in the midst of the mess, Mary had to remind herself that a miracle was waiting to be born.

In this respect, God has a special and unique purpose for all of us. Unfortunately, the mess surrounding our lives obscures the blessing.

Jesus wasn’t conceived in Mary’s womb fully grown; instead, He was only a fetus. Most of our miracles and/or promises of God don’t come fully grown, so they have to be guarded and nurtured. Can you imagine the outcome if Mary had aborted the baby because of the stigma of conception prior to marriage?

Like Mary God has impregnated us with a dream, a vision, a purpose, and a promise, and it’s all growing inside of us. What we need to be careful of is not aborting God’s plans and purpose for our lives because they may be inconvenient.

And once that dream, vision, purpose, or promise is birthed, we need to carefully nurture and raise it into the fullness God intended.

But things as I have said will get messy, just like raising a child is messy. They spill their food and drinks, and they not only mess up their diapers, but they mess up their rooms as well. They play outside and bring their mess inside.

But even though our lives may get a little messy, it isn’t out of God’s ability to clean it up. This confidence is seen in Luke’s account of the conception when the angel said, “For nothing is impossible with God.” (Luke 1:37)

This verse, although quoted by many, is seldom linked with the Christmas story, but it lies at its center. It was made to Mary as she was receiving the most incredible promise ever given to a human being concerning our physical limitations and God’s ability to supersede them.

So, remind yourself this Christmas that there’s a miracle waiting in the mess.