阅读经文 

我们的生活越来越紧张，无论是在职场、学校、或者在家中，都会感受到压力。生产指标升高，房产价格下降，病毒失控。有谁能够平稳安静下来？有谁能够松弛下来？

那么，我或许可以从诗篇第一百三十一篇得到一些提示，好叫我不再为我职责以外的事情担忧。我或许可以把自己想像成是一个偎依在母亲温暖怀中的学步的婴孩、让她舒缓的呼吸韵律安抚我。哦，我可否驻留在此，永不离开呢？

当耶稣仍在学步时，祂和祂的家人是埃及的难民，他们经历了很多困苦！有发出难闻气味的牧羊人和来自外国的占星学家来访，侥幸逃脱希律王的屠杀，跟着，又经年累月以客旅的身份寄居在陌生的地方。

然而，我们可以想像马利亚抱起耶稣、把祂拥在怀里的情景，我们也可以想像，耶稣从她温暖的身体和均匀的呼吸得到安慰。尽管在埃及是局外人，在家乡又受到威吓——对于在母亲怀中安静歇息的幼小耶稣，这些困扰都不能令祂忧虑。

这篇诗篇和耶稣自己，邀请我们偎依在与我们同在之神的温暖怀抱中，安息在神的怀里，在压力面前投靠神，就像小耶稣倚靠在祂母亲的膀臂中一样。

Stress levels keep rising. At work, at school, even at home, the pressure is on. Productivity targets climb. Housing bubbles burst. Viruses run out of control. Who can calm down? Who can relax?

Well, maybe I can take a cue from Psalm 131 and not concern myself with things above my pay grade. Maybe I can imagine myself as a toddler snuggling against my mother's warmth, the gentle rhythm of her breathing soothing me. Ahhh. Can I just stay here?

When Jesus was a toddler, he and his family were refugees in Egypt. What a lot they had experienced! Visits by smelly shepherds and stargazing foreigners. A close escape from Herod's hit squad. And then months turning into years while they lived as strangers in a strange land.

Yet we can imagine Mary picking up Jesus and wrapping him in her arms. And we can imagine Jesus finding comfort from her warmth and her steady breathing. Out of place in Egypt, threatened back home—none of that was a concern for little Jesus, who rested quietly in his mother's embrace.

The psalm and Jesus himself invite us to snuggle against the warmth of God's presence, to rest in God's embrace, to trust God when the pressure is on, to trust God like Jesus trusted his mother's arms.