Whether it’s first semester in college, starting a new job, getting in with a new friend group, or just changing your regular routine, many things happen in our life to deter us away from that close-knit relationship with God. It comes on slowly, just small changes that just once is fine, but over a long period of time turn into gaps separating you from the peace you once held dear.

For me, this has been my first semester of college, and though it has been the best semester of my life, it also has been a season of failure and learning. I say failure with learning because in God’s plan, He doesn’t allow you to fail for the purpose of failing and feeling useless.

He allows us to fail to learn that what we are doing or what we are involved in and are trying to push isn’t in His will for our lives and will ultimately hurt us. Now, we definitely don’t understand this while we are pushing through in our own stubbornness, but once we back up and look at the situation, we can see how God had His hand over us the whole time, guiding us minimally but still letting us make our own decisions.

Isaiah 9:6 says, “For unto us a child is born, unto us, a son is given. And the government shall be upon his shoulders, and his name shall be called, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

Yes, this is a Christmas verse, but it has also become the verse for my first semester. In choir, we are singing the Christmas portion of Handel’s Messiah for our Christmas concert, and of course “For Unto Us a Child is Born” is included. When we first started rehearsals, I was in love with all the songs and overjoyed to be singing the Messiah.

However, a couple of weeks in, I realized that the wording of the songs was absolutely beautiful, even more so than I originally thought. I started feeling the music and how the phrases glorified God and realized that in my own life I had separated myself from the Prince of Peace.

It was so subtle, like the setting sun, growing into the darkness of night. I had pushed my way into doing the things I wanted, and therefore didn’t have the peace or reassurance that I once had of everything working out for my benefit.

However, Philippians 4:7 says, “The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”

The peace of God, the peace that is above all understanding, will guard us. A lady from a church I had been attending texted me this verse. She didn’t know what I was going through, no one did. However, God places those people in our lives to encourage us and bring us back to Christ when we fall off on the wayside.

So why my title? Coming back to Christ at Christmas? So far, some would say my title would make no sense, but in fact, it really does.

Christ in Christmas is everything, just as Christ in our lives is everything. When we separate ourselves from Him, it is hard to return to Him after living secularly for that period of time. Especially at Christmas. Christmas is the perfect reason for Satan to grab us and pull us even farther away from Christ, especially when we realize we are separate from Him and want to return.

The director at my BSU said, “If Satan can’t turn you, he’ll make you busy.” Isn’t that so true?

During the Christmas season, sometimes we can turn into selfish monsters concerned only with what we are gonna get. We put so much attention on presents and parties that it is a wonder how we have time for Christ at all! Yes, of course, everyone goes to church at Christmas, but there is so much more we can do!

This Christmas, I have challenged myself and I challenge you to open your hearts and minds to the protection of peace from the Prince of Peace himself. The Wonder Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father wants to love you and wants you to love others. Christmas is a time of giving yes, but it is also a time of remembrance and celebration of the wonderful gift God gave us.

So my challenge is this Christmas, find a verse that makes you remember the joy of Christmas, whether it is the most iconic Christmas verse out there, or not even a Christmas verse at all, and share it with everyone. Whether you share it by mouth, note, or present doesn’t matter that’s your decision. But this Christmas, share the gift of the word of God and celebrate its meaning and power, bringing Christ back into Christmas as you yourself come closer to Christ this Christmas.