We live in a loud world. There is noise from our phones and computers, our schedules, our worries, and even our good intentions. For our children, noise may come from screens and school pressures. For adults, it’s deadlines, responsibilities, and expectations. For seniors, it can be the noise of memories, concerns about health, or the changing peace of life.

So, then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.

When your season feels heavy, weary, lonely, or with uncertainty and questions without easy answers, take time to pause for the cause. Pause in Jesus’ splender, his glorious splendor in your season. God invites you to go through this season with him, to bring wholeness into your faith. “For your present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!” (2 Corinthians 4:17). This is why we never give up. We do not have it all figured out; pause to remain anchored in God. Pause in God’s unwavering presence and provision. Pause in His love and guidance because God’s presence is in all seasons, actively working in every phase of your life.

See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the desert.

On Christmas Day, we celebrate the greatest gift ever given: Jesus Christ, God coming to dwell among us. Amid the joy and festivities, let us take a moment to reflect on the meaning of “Immanuel” –God with us.