“Do you not know?  Have you not heard?  The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.  

“He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.  He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.

^“Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and  fall;  but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”

Isaiah 34:28 – 30

Growing up in a Christian home, Christmas time was special. I enjoyed the secret whispering about gifts, visits from friends, the sweet sand tarts, the lights, the smell of the pine tree that was now in our sun room, decorated with tinsel, lights and baubles with a train on an oval track beneath the tree sporting one nice light that I loved to see as it came out of the tunnel. Everything reminded us to be joyful. I think it almost worked.  I am not sure what we hoped for – maybe a desired gift, like a baseball glove or a new shirt.

I was always renewed in spirit because of Christmas. As I look back, that was a nice boost in the grey days of winter.

Real comfort, says the Lord through Isaiah, is to know our wonderful God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. I get weary, not Him. I get tired, not Him.  Not only does God not grow weary, he delights in making sure that we take courage as we walk with the Lord.

“Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.”  How true!  At times we find that we have strength to fly like an eagle, far above the worlds’s troubles.  We love those moments when we are lifted up so that we can see more of God’s mercies that ever. But we do not often fly like that, but we run like the wind, for a short while.  But most of the time, we take one step after another – walking. Soaring is for a moment, running is for an exhilarating moment, walking is what we do constantly. We are human beings, built to walk.  That requires extraordinary strength and endurance. Not terribly dramatic but steady and sure.

“Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.”  A word of encouragement for this season of Advent.