No pressure...

Our Daily Bread
Remember the cute story about Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer?  An outsider from the reindeer games as a young reindeer eventually became the lead reindeer for Santa's sleigh!  What an honor!  He received that honor because of his specific skill that only he could do and his willingness to use it to help others.  Wow, I didn't realize there was such a spiritual message to that cute little story/song!

There were two folks in the Christmas story that also did their part.  Simeon and Anna.  Simeon told others of the promise God fulfilled to him in the birth of Jesus.  So did Anna.  She proclaimed it all the time in the temple after meeting the baby Jesus.  Talk about pressure!  I am not a parent so I cannot imagine what kind of pressure those expectations would put on a child or the parents.  Wow!

During the Christmas season, hide all of these things in your heart.  Celebrate the miraculous story.  Christ is born!

Lord, we thank you for the birth of your only Son.  He will always be the Messiah!

Psalm Sunday
We are reading Psalm 122 today.  Remember an ascent is a psalm used by traveling pilgrims, usually to Jerusalem on a spiritual pilgrimage.  You can feel how special Jerusalem is to the pilgrims from this psalm!

Psalm 122

A song of ascents. Of David.

1 I rejoiced with those who said to me,
    “Let us go to the house of the Lord.”
2 Our feet are standing
    in your gates, Jerusalem.
3 Jerusalem is built like a city
    that is closely compacted together.
4 That is where the tribes go up—
    the tribes of the Lord—
to praise the name of the Lord
    according to the statute given to Israel.
5 There stand the thrones for judgment,
    the thrones of the house of David.
6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
    “May those who love you be secure.
7 May there be peace within your walls
    and security within your citadels.”
8 For the sake of my family and friends,
    I will say, “Peace be within you.”
9 For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,
    I will seek your prosperity.

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Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” John 11:40