"It's a Christmas Miracle!"

This photo from the post about my mother's nativity scene seemed like the best one to use today.

And I'll keep this post short.

I've had wildly fluctuating blood pressure for decades for some known and also unknown reasons.

This typically prompts great anxiety whenever I walk into a room with a blood pressure cuff.

So you can imagine the anxiety when I am actually getting my blood pressure taken.

A couple of weeks ago, I visited my primary for a follow-up on one day and a follow-up with my endocrinologist on the next day.

Both times, to my wonderment and delight, the readings were extremely normal.

My endocrinologist was equally delighted and exclaimed, "It's a Christmas miracle!"

At first glance, such sentiments seem silly and trite.

But they really are not, if you think about it.

My family is still on a several-year chaotic stretch of one emergency after another. We have a lot of turbulence in the background we cannot control, and that turbulence is teaching us (very slowly) how to walk more deeply in faith.

Whether or not you consider the first Christmas story to be fact or fiction, the details are the same.

During an especially volatile time in the world, a savior was born in the midst of it, very quietly, very humbly, and without much fanfare or notice from most people.

If your life today is smooth and without struggles, rejoice! That is a huge blessing indeed. Revel in that while you can.

If your life today is difficult and challenging, also rejoice!

For tucked away in all of that turmoil are little miracles just waiting for you to see them, recognize them, and embrace them.

That is the Christmas miracle waiting for you.