There was also a prophet, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, who belonged to the tribe of Asher. She was very old. After she married, she lived with her husband for seven years. She was now an 84-year-old widow. She never left the temple area but worshiped God with fasting and prayer night and day. She approached at that very moment and began to praise God and to speak about Jesus to everyone who was looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem. (Luke 2:36-38 CEB) Happy New Year! Today is January 1st, 2026. A new year. A fresh start. A blank page waiting to be written. And I want us to spend today thinking about Anna, the second person who recognized who Jesus was when Mary and Joseph brought him to the temple. Luke tells us that Anna was 84 years old. She'd been married for seven years before her husband died, which means she'd been a widow for most of her life. Instead of remarrying or trying to rebuild the life she'd lost, Anna devoted herself completely to God. She never left the temple. She spent her days and nights worshiping God, fasting, and praying. Some people might look at Anna's life and see it as a waste. She didn't remarry. She didn't have children. She didn't build a career, accumulate wealth, or make a name for herself. She just spent her time in the temple, praying and waiting for God to fulfill his promises. But Luke calls her a prophet. And when she saw baby Jesus, she did something remarkable: she started telling everyone about him. She spoke about Jesus to everyone who was looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem. Anna understood that seeing Jesus wasn't just about her. It wasn't just a personal experience that she should keep to herself. It was good news that needed to be shared. So she became a witness. She told people what she'd seen. She testified to the truth that the Messiah had finally come. And that's what we're called to do, too. Not just to experience Jesus for ourselves, but to tell others about him. Not just to celebrate Christmas in our own homes and churches, but to share the good news of Christmas with everyone we meet. But here's the thing: we can only do that if we've actually taken the time to recognize who Jesus is. That's why we needed to slow down. That's why we can't just rush past Christmas and get back to normal. Because if we're going to carry the truth of Christmas into this new year, if we're going to be witnesses like Anna, we have to take the time to really see Jesus for who he is. So as we start this new year, I want to challenge you to be like Anna. Make 2026 a year when you tell others about Jesus. Not in a pushy or aggressive way. Not by trying to win arguments or prove people wrong. But simply by sharing what you've experienced. By testifying to what you've seen. By telling people about the difference Jesus has made in your life. You don't need a theology degree. You don't need special training. You just need to share what you know – that God loves people so much that he sent his son. That Jesus came for all of us. That God is with us. That's the message the world needs to hear. And it needs to hear it from you. So make this the year you become a witness. Make this the year you tell others about Jesus. Make this the year you share the good news of Christmas with everyone you meet. Closing Prayer: God, thank you for the example of Anna, who spent her life devoted to you and then became a witness when she saw Jesus. Give us that same devotion. Give us that same boldness. Help us to tell others about what we've seen and experienced. Use us to share the good news of Jesus with a world that desperately needs to hear it. Make this a year when we live as your witnesses. Amen.

"Now, master, let your servant go in peace according to your word, because my eyes have seen your salvation. You prepared this salvation in the presence of all peoples. It's a light for revelation to the Gentiles and a glory for your people Israel." (Luke 2:29-32 CEB) Simeon had waited his entire life to see the Messiah. And now, holding baby Jesus in his arms, he prays one of the most beautiful prayers in all of Scripture. He says, "Now, master, let your servant go in peace." In other words, "I'm ready to die now. I've seen what I needed to see. I can go in peace because my eyes have seen your salvation." Think about what Simeon is saying here. He's saying that seeing Jesus and holding him in his arms was enough. He didn't need anything else. He didn't need to see Jesus grow up. He didn't need to witness his ministry or his miracles. He didn't need to be there for the crucifixion or the resurrection. Just seeing him, just holding him, just knowing that God had kept his promise...that was enough. Because Simeon understood something that we often forget: Jesus is what matters most. Not what Jesus can do for us. Not the blessings Jesus can give us. Not the problems Jesus can solve or the questions Jesus can answer. Just Jesus himself. His presence. His reality. The fact that God loves us so much that he became one of us. That's what matters most. And if we have that, we have everything we need. But we don't often live like that, do we? We treat Jesus like a means to an end. We come to him because we want something from him. We pray to him because we need him to fix something or change something or give us something. We make our relationship with Jesus all about what he can do for us instead of about who he is. And then we wonder why we feel empty. We wonder why our faith feels hollow. We wonder why we still feel let down even after Christmas is over. Maybe it's because we've been looking for the wrong thing. Maybe we've been treating Jesus like a vending machine instead of like the Son of God. Maybe we've been so focused on what we want from him that we've missed the gift of simply being with him. Tonight is New Year's Eve. In a few hours, we'll say goodbye to 2025 and hello to 2026. And a lot of us will make resolutions about what we want to accomplish or change or improve in the new year. But before you make those resolutions, before you set those goals, I want you to ask yourself a question: What matters most? Simeon chose Jesus. He decided that seeing the Messiah, holding the son of God, knowing that God had kept his promise – that was enough. That was what mattered most. Can you say the same? Is Jesus enough for you? Or are you still looking for something more, something else, something beyond him? Because if Jesus isn't enough, then nothing will be. But if Jesus is enough, then you can go into the new year in peace. Not because your circumstances are perfect or your problems are solved or your questions are answered. But because you have what matters most. Closing Prayer: Jesus, forgive us for treating you like a means to an end. Forgive us for being more focused on what we want from you than on who you are. Help us to be like Simeon and recognize that you're enough. You're what matters most. As we enter a new year, help us to hold onto you above everything else. You are our peace. You are our hope. You are all we need. Amen.

A man named Simeon was in Jerusalem. He was righteous and devout. He eagerly anticipated the restoration of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. The Holy Spirit revealed to him that he wouldn't die before he had seen the Lord's Christ.  (Luke 2:25-26 CEB) Simeon had been waiting his entire life for this moment. We don't know how old Simeon was when Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the temple. But we know he was old enough that he didn't expect to live much longer. The Holy Spirit had promised him that he wouldn't die before he saw the Lord's Christ – the Messiah – and now, finally, that day had come. Think about what that means. Simeon had spent decades waiting for God to fulfill this promise. Every morning when he woke up, he wondered if this would be the day. Every time he went to the temple, he looked for any sign that the Messiah had come. Every time he heard news of a baby being born, he hoped this might be the one. And year after year, nothing happened. The promise remained unfulfilled. The waiting continued. Most of us would have given up. Most of us would have decided that we'd misheard God or that the promise wasn't really for us or that it just wasn't going to happen. Most of us would have stopped hoping and moved on with our lives. But Simeon didn't. He kept waiting. He kept hoping. He kept trusting that God would fulfill his promise, no matter how long it took. And then, one ordinary day, it happened. Mary and Joseph walked into the temple carrying their baby, and Simeon knew. This was it. God had kept his promise. We need to learn from Simeon's example. Because we live in a world that doesn't value waiting. We want everything immediately. We expect instant results. We get frustrated when things don't happen on our timeline. But God doesn't work on our schedule. That doesn't mean God has forgotten about us. It doesn't mean God's promises aren't true. It just means that God's timing is perfect, even when it doesn't match our expectations. Maybe you're waiting for something right now. Maybe you've been praying for something for years and nothing has happened yet. Maybe you're starting to wonder if God even hears your prayers or if he cares about what you're going through. Simeon would tell you to keep waiting. Keep hoping. Keep trusting. Because God always keeps his promises. He just does it on his own timeline, not ours. And here's what else Simeon would tell you: when God finally does fulfill his promise, when that moment you've been waiting for finally arrives, it will be worth every second of the wait. Every year of hoping and wondering and trusting will make sense when you finally see what God was doing all along. So don't give up. Instead, be like Simeon. Stay faithful. Stay expectant. Stay ready for the moment when God finally says, "Now. This is it. This is what you've been waiting for." Because that moment will come. God's promises never fail. Closing Prayer: God, waiting is hard. We don't like it. We want answers now. We want solutions now. We want your promises fulfilled now. But help us to trust your timing. Help us to be like Simeon, faithful and patient even when the waiting seems endless. Strengthen our faith. Keep our hope alive. And help us to be ready when you finally say it's time. Amen.

It doesn't take long after Christmas comes to an end for us to put away our presents, pack away our decorations, throw away the shreds of wrapping paper, and move on to the next thing.   But what if part of the reason we feel let down when Christmas comes to an end is because we rush right past it? Maybe if we learn to hold on to the meaning of Christmas, we won't feel so disappointed.

When the time came for their ritual cleansing, in accordance with the Law from Moses, they brought Jesus up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. (It's written in the Law of the Lord, "Every firstborn male will be dedicated to the Lord.") They offered a sacrifice in keeping with what's stated in the Law of the Lord, A pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons. (Luke 2:22-24 CEB) It's been four days since Christmas. And if you're like most people, you've already started getting back to normal. Some of the decorations have come down. The wrapping paper is in the trash. The leftovers are almost gone. And mentally, you're already moving on to the next thing. Maybe you're thinking about New Year's resolutions. Maybe you're preparing to go back to work. Maybe you're just ready for life to settle back into its regular rhythm after all the chaos of the holidays. There's nothing wrong with any of that. Life does have to go on. We can't stay in Christmas mode forever. We have jobs to do, responsibilities to fulfill, and routines to maintain. But here's what we need to be careful about: in our rush to get back to normal, we can't forget what just happened. We can't pack away the truth of Christmas along with the decorations. We can't treat December 25th like just another day on the calendar that we check off and move past. That's what Mary and Joseph could have done. Look at how Luke describes this scene. They came to Jerusalem "when the time came for their ritual cleansing." They were there to fulfill a legal requirement. They were checking a box, completing a task. They brought the sacrifice that the law prescribed – two turtledoves or two young pigeons, which was the offering required for people who couldn't afford a lamb. In other words, this was routine. This was just something they had to do. And when it was over, they could go home and get back to their regular lives. But that's not what happened. Because while they were there, they ran into two people who understood that this wasn't routine at all. This wasn't just another task to check off the list. This was the most significant moment in human history. We'll talk more about Simeon and Anna in the coming days. But for now, I just want us to recognize the temptation that Mary and Joseph faced – the same temptation we face every year after Christmas. The temptation to move on. To get back to normal. To treat what just happened as if it was no big deal. Because here's the truth: what we celebrated on Christmas Day isn't routine. It isn't ordinary. It isn't just another religious holiday that we observe and then forget about. Christmas is about the fact that God became human. That the Creator of the universe took on flesh and entered our world. That God loves us so much that he was willing to become one of us so that he could save us. That truth is too important to rush past. It's too significant to pack away until next December. It's too powerful to forget about as we get back to our normal routines. So before we completely move on from Christmas, before we let it become just another memory from last week, we need to slow down. We need to stop. We need to do what Simeon and Anna did, and recognize who Jesus is and what his coming means, and let that reality sink in. Because if we don't, we'll end up feeling let down again next Christmas. We'll wonder why Christmas didn't feel as magical or meaningful as we hoped it would. And we'll miss the fact that the problem isn't with Christmas, it's with us and our inability to slow down long enough to really appreciate what we've been given. Closing Prayer: God, forgive us for being so quick to move on from Christmas. Help us to slow down. Help us to recognize that what we celebrated isn't routine or ordinary but the most significant truth in all of human history. Don't let us pack away the meaning of Christmas as we get back to our regular lives. Keep this truth alive in our hearts. Amen.

Mary committed these things to memory and considered them carefully. The shepherds returned home, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. Everything happened just as they had been told. (Luke 2:19-20 CEB) Christmas is over. The presents have been opened. The special meal has been eaten. The family time has been enjoyed (or endured, depending on your family). And now what? For a lot of us, the day after Christmas feels a little empty. All that anticipation, all that preparation, all that excitement...and now it's done. We start taking down decorations. We put away the special dishes. We begin thinking about getting back to our normal routines. And if we're not careful, we pack Jesus away with the decorations. We treat him like something special for the Christmas season but not really relevant to the rest of our lives. But look at what happened after that first Christmas. Mary didn't just move on to the next thing. She committed these things to memory. She considered them carefully. She held onto what had happened and pondered its meaning. And the shepherds didn't just go back to their fields and forget about everything they'd seen and heard. They went home glorifying and praising God. They couldn't stop talking about what they'd experienced. That's what should happen to us too. Christmas shouldn't end on December 25th. The truth we celebrate at Christmas, that God is with us, that Jesus has come, should shape how we live every single day of the year. But that only happens if we accept Jesus for who he actually is instead of who we want him to be. If we keep demanding that Jesus fit our expectations, we'll be disappointed. We'll pack him away with the Christmas decorations and get back to our regular lives. But if we accept Jesus as he actually is – humble, serving, loving, challenging, transforming – then everything changes. We can't just put him away. We can't just move on to the next thing. We have to figure out what it means to follow him, not just celebrate him. And that's harder than celebrating Christmas. It's harder to follow a Jesus who calls us to humility than to celebrate a Jesus who was born in a stable. It's harder to follow a Jesus who commands us to love our enemies than to celebrate a Jesus who came for all people. It's harder to follow a Jesus who tells us to take up our cross than to celebrate a Jesus who was born as a baby. But it's also more rewarding. Because following Jesus, not just nodding to him once a year, is what we were created for. So don't pack Jesus away with the Christmas decorations. Don't treat him like something special for the season but not really relevant to your everyday life. Instead, be like Mary. Commit these things to memory. Consider them carefully. Keep pondering what it means that God became human, that Jesus was born for you, that Emmanuel means God is with us. And be like the shepherds. Don't keep this good news to yourself. Tell people what you've seen and heard. Glorify and praise God for what he's done. Let your life be changed by the reality of Christmas. Because Jesus is exactly what you need. Not just at Christmas, but every single day. He's not what you expected, but he's so much better than anything you could have imagined. Closing Prayer: Jesus, help us not to pack you away with the Christmas decorations. Help us to carry the truth of Christmas with us into every day of the year. You are exactly what we need – not just at Christmas, but always. Teach us to follow you, not just celebrate you. Transform our lives. Make us more like you. We receive you as you are, and we commit ourselves to following you wherever you lead. Amen.

The light was in the world, and the world came into being through the light, but the world didn't recognize the light. The light came to his own people, and his own people didn't welcome him. But those who did welcome him, those who believed in his name, he authorized to become God's children. (John 1:10-12 CEB) Merry Christmas! Today is the day. Christmas has finally arrived. And I hope that wherever you are and whatever you're doing today, you take time to remember what we're actually celebrating. We're celebrating the truth that God loved us so much that he became one of us. We're celebrating the fact that Jesus – God in human flesh – was born into this world for you. For me. For all of us. But here's what makes today's Scripture so sobering: not everyone welcomed him. The light came into the world – the world he created – and the world didn't recognize him. He came to his own people, and they didn't welcome him. Why? Because he wasn't what they expected. Because he didn't match the picture they had in their minds of what the Messiah should be like. So they rejected him. They turned him away. They missed out on the greatest gift God has ever given because it didn't come wrapped the way they wanted it to. But then John writes something beautiful: "But those who did welcome him, those who believed in his name, he authorized to become God's children." Those who welcomed him became children of God. And that's the choice we all have to make. Not just once, but every single day. Will we receive Jesus as he actually is? Or will we reject him because he's not what we expected? On Christmas morning, we receive gifts. We unwrap them. We thank the people who gave them to us. And if we're wise, we appreciate what we've been given instead of complaining about what we didn't get. God has given us the greatest gift imaginable. He's given us himself. In the person of Jesus Christ, God has come into our world. He's walked in our shoes. He's experienced what we experience. He's offered us forgiveness, redemption, and eternal life. But like any gift, it only benefits us if we receive it. So today, on Christmas Day, I want to challenge you to receive the gift God has given. Not the gift you expected or the gift you would have asked for if God had consulted you first. Receive the gift God actually gave – Jesus Christ, born in a stable, raised in poverty, friend of sinners, crucified on a cross, risen from the dead. Receive him. Welcome him. Accept him for who he is. And discover that he's exactly what you've been looking for all along, even if he's not what you expected. Because when we receive Jesus – really receive him, not just acknowledge him – we become children of God. We become part of God's family. We receive the authority to live as God's people in this world. And that's a gift worth celebrating. Not just today, but every day for the rest of our lives. Closing Prayer: Father, thank you for the gift of Jesus. Thank you for loving us enough to become one of us. Help us to receive Jesus as he actually is instead of rejecting him for who he isn't. Make us your children. Fill us with your Spirit. And help us to live as people who have received the greatest gift imaginable. Merry Christmas, and thank you for Jesus. Amen.

Enjoy the Lord! And he will give what your heart asks. Commit your way to the Lord! Trust him! He will act and will make your righteousness shine like the light, your justice like high noon. (Psalm 37:4-5 CEB) "Enjoy the Lord! And he will give what your heart asks." That's a verse that gets misunderstood a lot. People read it and think it means, "If you love God, he'll give you whatever you want." Like God is some kind of cosmic vending machine. Just put in your prayers, and out comes whatever you asked for. But that's not what this verse means. Because when we truly enjoy the Lord and make him the center of our lives, our desires change. The things we want start to line up with the things God wants. Our hearts start asking for what we actually need instead of just what we think we want in the moment. That's what happened with the people waiting for the Messiah. They thought they wanted a conquering king. They thought they wanted political freedom. They thought they wanted military victory over Rome. But what they actually needed was reconciliation with God. They needed someone who could restore their relationship with their Creator. They needed salvation, not just liberation. And that's what Jesus came to provide. Not what people thought they wanted, but what they actually needed. We do the same thing. We think we know what we want. So we make our Christmas lists, literal and metaphorical. We want certain gifts. We want certain experiences. We want our families to act a certain way. We want our celebrations to feel a certain way. And when we don't get what we want, we feel disappointed. We feel let down. But maybe what we wanted wasn't actually what we needed. Maybe we thought we needed the perfect Christmas, but what we actually needed was to learn that God's presence matters more than perfect circumstances. Maybe we thought we needed everything to go according to plan, but what we actually needed was to learn to trust God when things don't go the way we expected. Maybe we thought we needed impressive decorations and expensive gifts, but what we actually needed was to remember that the simple truth of God becoming human is more valuable than anything money can buy. Here's what I've learned over the years: God doesn't always give us what we want, because sometimes what we want isn't good for us. But God gives us what we need. And what we need more than anything else is Jesus. Not Jesus the way we imagine him to be or the way we wish he would be, but Jesus as he actually is. The Jesus who came humbly. The Jesus who served others. The Jesus who loved outcasts and sinners. The Jesus who died on a cross and rose from the dead. That Jesus is exactly what we need, even if he's not exactly what we expected. So as we approach Christmas Day, let's adjust our expectations. Let's stop demanding that Christmas give us what we want and start accepting what Christmas actually offers: the presence of God with us in the person of Jesus Christ. Because that's not just what we need. That's everything we need. Closing Prayer: God, we confess that we often focus on what we want instead of what we need. We make demands instead of receiving gifts. Help us to delight in you so much that our desires begin to align with yours. Thank you for giving us exactly what we need in Jesus, even when he's not what we expected. Amen.

Adopt the attitude that was in Christ Jesus: Though he was in the form of God, he did not consider being equal with God something to exploit. But he emptied himself by taking the form of a slave and by becoming like human beings. When he found himself in the form of a human, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:5-8 CEB) Power. That's what many people expected from the Messiah. They expected someone who would command armies. Someone who would overthrow governments. Someone who would establish his kingdom through strength and might. But that's not how Jesus came. He didn't come as a conquering king. He came as a helpless baby. He didn't grow up in a palace. He grew up in a carpenter's home. He didn't surround himself with the powerful and influential. He spent his time with fishermen, tax collectors, and sinners. From the world's perspective, Jesus looked weak. He looked like a failure. He looked like someone who couldn't possibly be the Messiah because he didn't have any of the power that people expected the Messiah to have. But that's because the world doesn't understand real power. Real power isn't about dominating others. It's not about forcing people to do what you want. It's not about building yourself up by tearing others down. Real power is the power to change hearts. The power to transform lives. The power to love people who don't deserve it and serve people who can't repay you. That's the kind of power Jesus had. And that kind of power requires humility, not pride. Think about it. If Jesus had come as the kind of Messiah people expected – as a mighty warrior king who defeated Rome – what would that have accomplished? Sure, Israel would have been free from Roman rule...for a while. But Rome would have fallen eventually anyway. Every earthly kingdom does. And then what? The people of Israel would have been right back where they started, under the control of some other empire, waiting for another deliverer. But that's not what humanity needed. We didn't need temporary freedom from political oppression. We needed someone who could bridge the gap between us and God. We needed someone who could show us what God is really like and what we were created to be. And that required humility. It required someone willing to empty himself, to take on human form, to serve rather than be served. It required someone willing to die on a cross so that we could live. That's real power. Not the power to destroy your enemies, but the power to love them. Not the power to take whatever you want, but the power to give everything you have. Not the power to demand service, but the power to serve. We live in a world that's still obsessed with the wrong kind of power. We admire people who are rich and famous and influential. We look up to people who have the ability to get whatever they want. We measure success by how much control someone has over their circumstances and over other people. But Jesus shows us a different way. He shows us that true greatness comes through humility. That real power comes through service. That lasting change comes through love, not force. And he invites us to follow his example. To let go of our need to be impressive. To stop trying to build ourselves up at others' expense. To embrace the power that comes from humility and service and love. That's not what the world expects. But it's exactly what the world needs. Closing Prayer: Jesus, you came in humility when we expected power. You served when we expected you to be served. Teach us to follow your example. Help us to let go of our need to be impressive and embrace the power that comes through humble service. Make us more like you. Amen.

We all have a picture in our minds of what Christmas should look like. We want to give and receive the perfect gifts. We want to throw the perfect gatherings. We want all of our decorations to look perfect. But we get disappointed when reality doesn't match our expectations.   But the Christmas story reminds us that we don't have to feel let down when things don't go the way we expect. Because sometimes, when we don't get what we want that's when we really get what we need.

"My plans aren't your plans, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. Just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my plans than your plans." (Isaiah 55:8-9 CEB) We all have expectations. About our jobs. About our relationships. About our families. About our lives. And especially about Christmas. We expect Christmas to feel a certain way. We expect our celebrations to look a certain way. We expect the gifts we give and receive to meet certain standards. We expect our family gatherings to go a certain way. And when those expectations aren't met, when Christmas doesn't turn out the way we hoped it would, we feel let down. And having expectations isn't wrong. The problem is that we often expect the wrong things. We expect things that sound good to us, but that might not actually be what we need. We expect things that would make us happy in the moment but wouldn't really satisfy us in the long run. The people of Israel did the same thing when they were waiting for the Messiah. They had very specific expectations about how he would come and what he would do. They expected a powerful king who would defeat their enemies. They expected a military leader who would free them from Roman oppression. They expected someone impressive and mighty who would establish Israel as a world power. Those expectations weren't completely wrong. The Old Testament prophecies did talk about the Messiah being a king. They did say he would rule with power and establish peace. But the people of Israel misunderstood what kind of king he would be and what kind of power he would have. So when Jesus came – born in a stable, raised in poverty, associated with outcasts and sinners – he didn't match their expectations. And a lot of people rejected him because of it. They couldn't accept that this humble carpenter from Nazareth was the Messiah they'd been waiting for. He wasn't what they expected, so they assumed he wasn't what they needed. But they were wrong. Jesus was exactly what they needed. He just wasn't what they expected. We do the same thing with God all the time. We expect him to work in certain ways. We expect him to answer our prayers in certain ways. We expect him to solve our problems in certain ways. And when he doesn't do what we expect, when his ways don't look like our ways, we get frustrated. We feel disappointed. We feel let down. But God's ways are higher than our ways. His plans are bigger than our plans. He sees things we can't see. He knows things we don't know. And he's working toward purposes that are greater than we can imagine. The challenge for us is to let go of our expectations and trust that God knows what he's doing. To accept that his ways might look different from what we imagined but that they're always better than anything we could have planned ourselves. Closing Prayer:  God, forgive us for putting you in a box, for expecting you to work according to our plans instead of yours. Help us to trust that your ways are higher than our ways, even when we don't understand them. Give us the faith to believe that you know what we need better than we do. Amen.

When Joseph woke up, he did just as an angel from God commanded and took Mary as his wife. But he didn't have sexual relations with her until she gave birth to a son. Joseph called him Jesus.   (Matthew 1:24-25 CEB) "When Joseph woke up, he did just as an angel from God commanded." That's it. That's all Matthew tells us about Joseph's response to the angel's message. No long speeches about his doubts or fears. No detailed description of how he wrestled with whether to believe what he'd heard. Just: he woke up, and he obeyed. But I don't think we should read that as easy or simple. I think there's a lot happening between those lines that Matthew doesn't tell us about. Because think about what the angel asked Joseph to do. Take Mary as your wife. Raise a child that isn't yours biologically. Be part of a story that you don't fully understand. Trust that God knows what he's doing, even though none of this makes sense. That's a lot to ask. And Joseph had every reason to doubt. He could have been skeptical. He could have asked for more proof. He could have wanted more time to think it through. But instead, Joseph chose to trust. He chose to obey. He chose to be part of God's story, even though he didn't have all the answers. And here's what's remarkable about that: God chose Joseph for this role knowing exactly who Joseph was. God knew Joseph would have doubts. God knew Joseph would be confused. God knew this wouldn't be easy for him. And God chose him anyway. That's good news for all of us. Because we all have doubts. We all have moments when we're not sure if we're hearing God correctly or if we're just making things up. We all have times when we wonder if we're really qualified to do what God seems to be asking us to do. But God doesn't just use people who have it all figured out. God doesn't just choose people who never doubt or question or struggle. God uses ordinary people who are willing to say yes, even when they're not completely sure what they're saying yes to. Joseph didn't have all the answers. He didn't understand the whole plan. He probably had a lot of questions about how this was all going to work out. But he said yes anyway. He trusted that God knew what he was doing, even if Joseph didn't. And look at what God did through that yes. Joseph became the earthly father of Jesus. He protected Mary and Jesus when Herod tried to kill them. He taught Jesus his trade. He was part of the most important story in human history...all because he was willing to say yes when God called, even though he didn't understand everything. So if God is asking you to do something and you're not sure you're hearing him right, if God is calling you to something and you're not sure you're qualified, if God is inviting you to be part of his story and you're full of doubts and questions...you're in good company. Joseph felt the same way. But he said yes anyway. And God used him in ways he never could have imagined. Will you do the same? Closing Prayer: God, we have so many doubts and questions. We're not always sure we're hearing you correctly. We don't always feel qualified for what you're asking us to do. But help us to be like Joseph. Help us to say yes, even when we don't understand everything. Help us to trust that you know what you're doing, even when we don't. Use us to be part of your story, despite our doubts and fears. Amen.