2nd Day of Christmas

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:22-23

Then came the next day: The heavenly voices were silenced, and shepherds were back in the fields. Perhaps the stable owner discovered quite a surprise when he came to care for the animals. People were talking downtown about the things the shepherds had told them. Joseph and Mary must have wondered, “Where, O Lord, do we go from here? What do we do now?”

It is the day after, and some Christmas trees are already on the curb. How quickly we move from one thing to another. That is the way it is, there is always the next day and the next thing. Some people feel let down that it ended almost as quickly as the last gift that was opened. Others are just glad that this one is over.

This is the day that the Lord has made, and we will do what with it? Christmas comes and goes, but the Child of Bethlehem is here to stay.

I once was asked to perform a wedding for a couple whose lives had known plenty of self-inflicted troubles. They had not at all been interested in marriage before. The lady asked me to do the ceremony as I had just finished her sister’s funeral. The sister’s two little babies had suddenly become her unplanned responsibility, and in her words, she wanted to give them “a proper home.” The transformation was amazing.

The Christ child has been left on the doorstep of every heart, and we cannot ignore Him. It is the day after Christmas. Where, O Lord, do we go from here? What do we do now?

“I don’t worry o’er the future,
For I know what Jesus said,
And today I’ll walk beside Him,
For He knows what lies ahead.

Many things about tomorrow
I don’t seem to understand,
But I know who holds tomorrow,
And I know who holds my hand.”