We often long for a life of peace, a life without troubles, trials and temptations. Yet Mary and Joseph remind us that when one problem is solved, another invariably raises its head! Despite having peace with each other again, life – this time in the form of Roman bureaucracy – intervenes to make things difficult for them. A census is ordered which means they have to travel from Nazareth in Galilee to Bethlehem, the town of David. (Luke 2:1-5)
Even nowadays, travel is not encouraged for heavily pregnant women, but Mary had to make this journey. Then, just to make life even more difficult, when they eventually arrived in Bethlehem, there was nowhere for them to stay. (Luke 2:6-7) Giving birth in a room full of animals can’t have been exactly peaceful; I’m often amused by our idyllic (and utterly unrealistic) Christmas carols which speak about silence and no crying! ‘All is calm, all is bright’ would not, I am sure, have been Mary’s assessment of the situation!
Peace does not always mean an absence of activity, noise, frustration or difficulty. I am reminded of the story behind the hymn, ‘It is well with my soul.’ Written by Horatio Spafford, he was a successful lawyer and real estate investor who lost a fortune in the great Chicago fire of 1871 and then lost his four-year-old son to scarlet fever. Thinking a holiday would do his family some good, he sent his wife and four daughters on a ship to England, planning to join them after he finished some pressing business at home. However, while crossing the Atlantic Ocean, the ship was involved in a terrible collision and sunk. More than 200 people lost their lives, including all four of Horatio Spafford’s precious daughters. His wife, Anna, survived the tragedy. Upon arriving in England, she sent a telegram to her husband that began: “Saved alone. What shall I do?”
It’s hard to imagine the grief and horror of this situation, and yet this man of God wrote this hymn on the way to his wife:
‘When peace like a river attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll—
Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to know
It is well, it is well with my soul.’
Peace with God can exist even in times of tragedy and heartache.
