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Seventeen-year-old Joni Eareckson dived off a floating dock into the shallow water of the Chesapeake Bay. The resulting accident left her a quadriplegic. Young, active, athletic, Eareckson now had to adjust to her life in a wheelchair.
Several months after the accident Eareckson was physically unable to Christmas shop. This inability depressed her, realizing she would not have any presents to place under the evergreen tree. Reading the Bible one day Eareckson understood that the only gift Christ gave to the world was the gift of himself. She took this message to heart believing she had a unique and individualistic talent to share.
The next day Eareckson approached her physical therapy class with new enthusiasm. Placing a brush between her teeth, this time she really did try to paint candy dishes. Little did she know that this artistic endeavor would become her career. Affirmed by the Christmas message, Joni Eareckson recognized her own self-worth. The importance of each individual is announced in the Christmas story.
Jeremiah offers some very comforting words for his cohorts who were displaced from their homeland and forced to live in exile. There they dwelled in a strange land, confused and bewildered. Perhaps worst of all, they lived with an uncertain future of ever returning home again. The prophet, speaking for God, consoled them saying, "I will lead them beside streams of water on a level path where they will not stumble."
There are many of us living in "Babylonian exile" this day. It was an exile that Joni Eareckson experienced, perplexed if she would ever have a future. But as Jeremiah's words of comfort went to his people in Babylonian and through the centuries to Joni Eareckson, it comes afresh to us during this liturgical season of Christmastide. Whatever our unfortunate circumstances, God "will lead us beside streams of water on a level path where we will not stumble."
Several months after the accident Eareckson was physically unable to Christmas shop. This inability depressed her, realizing she would not have any presents to place under the evergreen tree. Reading the Bible one day Eareckson understood that the only gift Christ gave to the world was the gift of himself. She took this message to heart believing she had a unique and individualistic talent to share.
The next day Eareckson approached her physical therapy class with new enthusiasm. Placing a brush between her teeth, this time she really did try to paint candy dishes. Little did she know that this artistic endeavor would become her career. Affirmed by the Christmas message, Joni Eareckson recognized her own self-worth. The importance of each individual is announced in the Christmas story.
Jeremiah offers some very comforting words for his cohorts who were displaced from their homeland and forced to live in exile. There they dwelled in a strange land, confused and bewildered. Perhaps worst of all, they lived with an uncertain future of ever returning home again. The prophet, speaking for God, consoled them saying, "I will lead them beside streams of water on a level path where they will not stumble."
There are many of us living in "Babylonian exile" this day. It was an exile that Joni Eareckson experienced, perplexed if she would ever have a future. But as Jeremiah's words of comfort went to his people in Babylonian and through the centuries to Joni Eareckson, it comes afresh to us during this liturgical season of Christmastide. Whatever our unfortunate circumstances, God "will lead us beside streams of water on a level path where we will not stumble."
