Advent Devotional by Laura Rodgers

Isaiah 26:7-15

Lord, you establish peace for us; all that we have accomplished, you have done for us. (Isaiah 26:12)           

I have many joyful memories from Christmas with my family over the years, thankfully. But as I sit in the quiet now, allowing memories to come to mind for this writing, I am thinking about a few years when I celebrated the month of December in a two-bedroom, historic home not far from the Liberty Square. It was the first home I owned, and I lived there with the very best dog—a huge, brown Labrador named Moses.

For my first Christmas in that house, I went to a tree farm with a couple of my friends, following a family tradition, and picked out a tall tree that I hoped would fill the 12-foot ceilings in my little old house. I had the perfect bay window for it with old, thick glass and imperfect trim that were original to the house’s approximately 100 years. Moses wasn’t much help with decorating, but he enjoyed every evening sitting with me on a dark green, overstuffed, corduroy couch and listening to Christmas CDs by Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, Steven Curtis Chapman, and others, set up to shuffle. The room was lit only by the soft white lights on my tree.

It was peaceful.

Like today’s scripture from Isaiah references, that peace was established by God. The gifts of a warm place to live, the work with income to purchase it, the companion to enjoy it with, and even the very holiday to celebrate there came from God.

I’m thankful for those gifts and the simple, quiet days as I look back on them now. And as always, I wish the Peace of Christmas to us all.

Laura Rodgers