Wonderful.

Oklahoma Pastel Society

  The weather is getting progressively colder. Tis the season for snowfalls and pillowy clouds blanketing the horizon. Today we caught our first glimpse of the frenzied dance of the snowflakes beyond the office windows. Something about watching the hurried swirls dissipate into the asphalt seemed to prepare my heart for winter. Christmas beckons me draw near the manger and revisit the tale of "the brave little boy who was God but He made Himself nothing." My heart echoes Sara Groves's retelling of Mary's response to Gabriel upon receiving the news that she would bear the Messiah who would free the captive souls of His people. "It's too wonderful! How can it be true?"..... "Is anything to wonderful for God? Gabriel replied." 

Throughout the year, many situations that seem to wonderful for me. I can't understand them. At times, I become overwhelmed by the despair that creeps into our lives when things don't go as planned. Other times, I feel fearful to embark on the adventurous roads He sets before me.  Nothing is too wonderful for God. Nothing is too hard for Him.

"He knows our needs and to our weakness He is no stranger. Behold your King. Before Him lowly bend." And as we bow broken-hearted before Him, He cuts the straps of the bags we carry. He destroys the sins and the burdens we have been stumbling over washes away the guilt and shame that we can't remove. Is anything too wonderful for God? Whether we are overwhelmed with grief or overflowing with joy, nothing is too wonderful for God. He is the giver of all good things and the comforter of those who mourn. He calls that which is not as though it were and speaks stars into existence. At the sound of His voice the earth quakes and at the gentle kindness of His words fears flee and hope soars. Nothing is impossible with God.

A Charlie Brown Christmas is one of my favorite Christmas movies-- maybe it has something to do with my mother's Snoopy fanaticism or memories of seeing it on television as a child during the holiday season.  When I see Linus declare the true meaning of Christmas my heart is stirred by the truth of Christ's coming in the form of a tiny child. I wonder what it must have been like to be sitting in a dark field at night with my sheep only to be astounded by the "great multitude of the heavenly hosts" announcing the all too wonderful news of Jesus's birth. The genius of His plan is too wonderful for me to comprehend. History belongs to Him. The grave could not contain Him. He is returning and His kingdom will know no end..... Wonderful.