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The other day, I was listening to the familiar Christmas song “Silent Night”.  I got stuck on the first few lines…

Silent night,

Holy night,

All is calm,

All is bright…

And I began to think about the description of this “holy night”.  It was silent.  There was an inner silence quieting the soul although there had to have been a bustle around this glorious scene.  The promised Savior had been born and there was no avoiding those who wanted to bless this child and also those who wanted to curse this child.  People traveled far and near to see what was going on and to see if what they had heard and waited for had really happened.  In the midst of this scene, the night was still silent.  It was holy.  No other time in history had such an event happened…a promised child who would come to save the world.  There was something holy and different about this child.  Even still, everything about this child had not yet been revealed.  The night continued and everything was calm.  There was no chaos.  Mary and Joseph were calm although I’m sure they had reason to be otherwise—a new baby, sleeping in a barn, the long journey, the uncertainty of the future, the awesome responsibility of raising “God’s son”.  Still, they chose to be calm.  They knew everything would be fine.  There was something “bright” and glorious about this night.  The stars twinkled extra bright.  The sky was lit with a fresh ray of hope for an uncertain future.  The brightness of the moment lingered through the stillness.

Now all these years later, picture a night in your life when there is silence, peace and tranquility.  No chaos and unnecessary business.  Only an inner silence that stills your soul.  Your life is filled with a holiness that sets you apart from the chaos that may be going on around you.  The calmness is there.  It’s everywhere you go and you are protected from confusion and weariness.  Everything is right.  Everything is bright.  There’s an abundance of hope.

Where do you find this place?  It’s found still in the Christ child who now lives in our hearts.  It’s found in His joy, peace, and love that fills our lives today.

Stop for a moment.  If your life doesn’t look like this despite all that may be going on around you, embrace the glory of this silent night.  Choose to be still.  Choose not to worry or fear.  Choose to live a life filled with joy.  Choose to rest in His embrace.  Enjoy the silence of this night.

~Coletta Jones Patterson