I remember when our first granddaughter celebrated her first Christmas. She and her Momma were at our home because our son-in-law was in the Navy and his ship was out to sea.
Seeing the Christmas decorations through her eyes was such a joy!
She wasn’t big enough to walk so I felt safe in hanging my bell ornaments from the lowest branched of the tree and then would lay her on a blanket where she could reach up and touch them with her little fingers. She was occupied for long periods of time and it was so fun to hear the tinkle, tinkle of those little bells.
Don’t ask me why but that memory came back yesterday as I was reading Luke 1 when the angel, Gabriel, appeared to Zechariah, John the Baptist father, and told him his wife was going to have a baby.
“But the angel said, ‘Don’t be afraid, Zechariah! God has heard your prayer. Your wife, Elizabeth, will give you a son, and you are to name him John. 14 You will have great joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth,'” Luke 1:13-14 NLT
The birth of a baby is always a reason for great joy and this child was being given to a couple, well advanced in years. Elizabeth had been ashamed of her bareness and when she learned she was pregnant, she stayed in her house not wanting to expose herself to any more public ridicule.
Elizabeth had a cousin, a young girl named Mary. Mary went to visit her cousin and when she did, the two women experienced great joy!
“For even when I just heard the sound of your greeting in my ear, the unborn child leaped with joy in my womb.” Luke 1:44 TLV
These two women had both been blessed with pregnancies, but those miraculous conceptions opened them to ridicule. One was an older woman, well advanced in years and the other was a young, unmarried teenager.
“Then Miriam said, ‘My soul magnifies Adonai, (The Lord) 47 and my spirit greatly rejoices in God, my Savior. 48 For He has looked with care upon the humble state of His maidservant.
For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed.” Luke 1:46-48 TLV
Neither woman allowed the possible shame or public ridicule they would face to steal the joy of the blessing that God had given them. They both embraced the Lord’s blessing with grateful hearts.
Is there a blessing the Lord has given you that others don’t understand? Maybe the Lord has led you to make a move that is bringing criticism from your “friends”. Could it be that others might be jealous of something you know was the hand of God in your life?
Long before telephones, internet and text messages the way news was spread through a town was by a herald. He would walk through the streets of the city, ringing a bell, announcing the news.
Isn’t it time that we ring the bell and announce the good news of Jesus and His love to those around us?
