Unmoved, Even in the Storm

 

Readings 122925

This time of year brings its own quiet ritual.
The cold fronts roll in, the wind picks up,
and sure enough, I find myself outside again,
straightening the nativity scene.

Mary and Joseph are tipped over.
The magi lie scattered, as if they lost their footing on the journey.
Even the camel, the ox, and the sheep—faithful as they are—
end up on their sides.

But the Baby Jesus never moves.
Not once.
He stays right where He is,
steady in the manger,
as if the storm has no authority over Him at all.

And every time I bend down to set the others back in place,
I catch that little plastic Jesus smiling up at me.
It’s simple. Almost silly.
But it hits me the same way every year:
everything else gets knocked down,
but Christ remains unmoved.

Maybe that’s the point.

God doesn’t force Himself on us.
He doesn’t demand obedience like a tyrant.
He invites.
He offers.
He waits for us to freely accept His gift,
and to follow His commands—not out of fear,
but out of love.

Still, Scripture doesn’t let us settle for cheap grace.
It speaks plainly:
Not everyone who claims the name of Christ
lives as a child of God.
The measure of knowing Jesus isn’t in our words,
but in our obedience.

“Whoever says, ‘I know him,’
but does not keep his commandments
is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”
Hard words.
But honest ones.

And yet, even in that challenge,
there is peace.
Because when we look at Christ—
steady, unshaken, smiling up at us even in the wind—
we see the One who fulfills every promise God ever made.
The One Simeon held in his arms
and recognized instantly as salvation itself:

“Lord, now let your servant go in peace;
your word has been fulfilled.
My own eyes have seen the salvation
which you prepared in the sight of every people,
a light to reveal You to the nations
and the glory of Your people Israel.”

That same light still shines.
That same peace still stands firm
when everything else blows over.
And that same Jesus—unmoved in the manger—
reminds us that storms may scatter the pieces of our lives,
but they cannot touch the One who holds it all together.

Prayer

Lord Jesus,
when the winds of life knock everything else down,
You remain steady.
Keep my heart rooted in You.
Teach me to choose Your ways with honesty and love.
Let Your light guide me,
and Your peace rest upon me,
now and always.
Amen.