As I struggle to get everything done in time so that I do not utterly destroy my GPA this semester, I got to thinking about the fact that - despite my initial beliefs - even in college, I'm not getting out of school much earlier than I did in high school.  That means that I have very little time to switch gears from "school" to "Christmas."  For those of you who know me, I'm not really one to be able to focus on both at the same time; they both command so much of my attention.  And as I wish that I had more time each holiday season to simply enjoy the holiday, I find myself thinking about the first Christmas.. (ok, so how many of us don't think about the first Christmas?)

We so often sing "Silent Night" during the Christmas season, and those of us in the band play it probably 50 times each year.  And we think about how peaceful and quiet things must have been that night.  Oh how we wish that our hearts and lives were always like that "Silent Night, Holy Night"!  But really, I'm not convinced that things were really that silent when Jesus was born.  Let's face it, the ENTIRE WORLD was being taxed and counted, and a good portion of them had to find their way to tiny little Bethlehem (and we know it's small, because Micah says it was).  This town was not big enough for everyone from the line of David.  Who are we to think that Mary, Joseph, and Jesus were the only ones who didn't have a place to sleep that night?  I'm sure there were those in the town who realized the business opportunity: hundreds of toursits in for the census who probably haven't bought their "I've been to Bethlehem" t-shirts.  The streets were packed with vendors and travellers and Roman soldiers.  It was chaos.  And just because night fell did not mean that it got quiet.  Really, how many of us sleep well when we're at someone else's house?  Do you really think that all these travellers and their hosts slept well that night?  I truly believe that within the town of Bethlehem that night, there was very little peace or quiet.

When Jesus was born, what a small minority of that mass actually heard His first cry!  Because when God chose to come to earth as man, He chose the most hectic time in time in history.  Despite the fact that He came into a place that lacked peace (in every sense), He brought the world peace.

And just as then, each Christmas comes during the most hectic time of the year for many.  Granted, it's that hectic for most because it's Chrstimas.  But just because our lives are not silent as the night in the song and are probably as hectic as Bethlehem was that night, we should not forget that just as His coming made that night holy, His presence in our lives should make even our hectic holiday season a holy one as well.

Now...back to that homework.