"The Five Intrusions of Christmas Peace"

Not a typical Christmas poem, but five parallel meditations on how peace breaks into human life - uninvited and unexpected.

"The Unlocked Stable"

We expect to find it,

  Each year we try,

    To outdo the year before.

We light every candle,

  Arrange every flower,

    Create silence and order.

But peace doesn't knock, it just comes right in. 

Reality sets in with chaos,

  With a mess spread all over,

    And nothing is prepared.

With guests arriving

  Before we are ready,

    And something has to give.

Like a thief through the back door, peace finds the unlocked stable.

"The Shepherds' Fortune"

We assume God

  Visits the worthy,

    The prepared, the important.

We watch the powerful,

  The influential, 

    The connected.

But peace keeps different company.

Reality sets in with the tired,

  The overlooked,

    The ones no one watches.

With those too busy surviving

  To watch for angels,

    Who never expected to be found.

Peace picks the pockets of the proud and fills the hands of shepherds.

"Midnight Arrival"

We wait for the right moment.

  When we're ready,

    When we've earned it.

When we're finally good enough,

  Peaceful enough,

    Worthy enough.

But peace keeps its own calendar. 

Reality sets in at midnight,

  Mid-journey through nowhere,

    Or in the middle of no room.

With labor coming too early,

  A census that won't wait

    And everything happens at once.

Peace crashes through our carefully timed plans.

"When Walls Cannot Hold"

We fortify our hearts,

  Build walls of control, 

    Lock our chaos away. 

We think peace requires 

  Perfection first, 

    Achieve calm to receive it.

But peace knows every entrance.

Reality sets in through the cracks,

  Past every defense we built,

    Into rooms we kept locked.

With all of our uncertainty,

  Confusion still swirling,

    Our fear breaking down the door.

Peace picks the lock of our defended heart.

"Stolen Distance"

We imagine divine glory

  Must stay in heaven,

    Too holy for the earth.

We expect too much,

  Something magnificent,

    Too grand for our mundane reality. 

But peace doesn't keep its distance.

Reality crashes down through the ceiling,

  Tears the veil between worlds,

    And plants heaven in our dirt.

With the infinite compressed to an infant,

  The cosmic contained in flesh,

    And God is close enough to touch.

Peace steals heaven's distance and makes God nearer than breath.

Is your expectation this year to find the Christmas Peace?  Look. It is out there.