The Bigger Picture

This Christmas has been much different for our family than it has in several years past. There will be more explanation there coming in a future blog. This Christmas has been a time of adjustment, shifting focus, grief, anxiety, joy, celebration, more grief, refocusing, more joy....a cycle of many emotions and I'm seeing it in all of us. This morning it kind of all came to a head for me and the middle child, I think we're the two teetering between grief and joy the most right now. I also think he is trying to find his place in our family as most middle children do but for him it's been a bit more complex. His struggles weigh on me, as his mom I want to fix it. I want to make it all better and go on with life but it just doesn't work like that. It's not my job to fix it, it's God's. That aside though, as I sat down to my quiet time with the Lord He reminded me of something He's been speaking to me about the last several weeks, only this morning I finally heard it loud and clear. There is a bigger picture.

The last few weeks in church we've been talking about "The Big Picture" and each week little by little the Lord has planted truth in my heart as He continues to remind me that there is a bigger picture here beyond what I'm facing today. Along with that, I have had to fill in as worship leader a few times for my husband due to vocal issues (another story for another day), and as I've sung these Christmas songs that I've sung all my life He opened my eyes and heart to the lyrics and spoke that same deep truth to me, "There is a bigger picture."

This morning as I sat down after a rough morning with my son my heart felt heavy, I focused on that and became discouraged.  So, I began to read the Word and He reminded me as I read in Luke how God was worshiped because of the birth of Christ, how the angels praised God singing "Glory to God in the highest..."(Luke 2:13-14) and how Mary magnified the Lord (Luke 1:46-55) because of what He had done, was doing, and was going to do. They were focused on the bigger picture. A baby was going to be born who would be the Savior of the world. Despite all the hard things Mary was going to be facing she knew there was a bigger picture so she worshiped Him.