I delight greatly in the Lord;
    my soul rejoices in my God.
For he has clothed me with garments of salvation
    and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness,
as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest,
    and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
For as the soil makes the sprout come up
    and a garden causes seeds to grow,
so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness
    and praise spring up before all nations.

This is a stressful season for many people. We watch TV shows that have “family dinners” prepared by a team of dozens of set designers and technicians, and ads telling us how much we have to spend to show those around us that we really love them, and see social media posts in which our friends claim to be living perfect lives, and wonder how we’re ever going to keep up.

The short answer is, we’re not.

And even if we could, we’d find that presents don’t really buy love, our friends’ posts don’t tell the whole story, and that perfect dinner doesn’t satisfy the deeper hunger we have. In fact, it doesn’t even satisfy our physical hunger any better than a cheeseburger and fries would.

The stress we put on ourselves at the holidays comes from the conviction that we can fix our lives, and become a superman or superwoman who can also fix the lives of those around us.

The Christmas story reminds us that joy doesn’t come as a result of our own effort. Whether you’re an uneducation field hand, a wealthy wise man or even an angel, joy is a gift from God that will be delivered in God’s fashion and on God’s schedule.

For as the soil makes the sprout come up
    and a garden causes seeds to grow,
so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness
    and praise spring up before all nations.