If you're like me, it is extremely easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle, get-togethers, and traditional activities that Christmas brings. It's that time of year again and your main focus is getting your tree up and decorated, wrapping presents for your loved ones, caroling and playing your favorite holiday tunes, baking cookies, visiting family, and preparing food for the next Christmas gathering.
For me, it's easy to go through the Christmas Cycle—sing all the right songs, buy everyone the perfect present, talk about the Christ Child, and pray for snow.
But if I just take the time to think, really think... Christmas is more than just an annual cause for gifts and family time. Christmas is a miracle, a celebration.
In a way, I think the Christmas story sometimes gets viewed as a fairy tale, one of those stories we've heard countless times, so often that we skip and skim over the details, reciting from memory the events that make up the story. It's so familiar that we take for granted the little sparkling details of wonder and the miracles that light up the story of our Savior's humble birth. It has instead turned into the test of patience we must endure to get to the red and green clad boxes beneath the tree on Christmas morning.
In honor of Jesus' birth, I'd like to take the time to ponder the details of that long-ago Christmas, the beginning of the wonderful plan of a loving Savior coming to earth in human flesh to save all of mankind.
First, there's Mary. Oh, to put myself in her shoes. A young, teenage girl. Engaged to be married, she finds out she's pregnant. An angel reveals to her that, yes indeed, the Holy Spirit has graced her with the miraculous gift of carrying the Savior of the world inside of her, which seems impossible to human logic, since in no way could a virgin possibly be with child. I can't imagine the mixed feelings flowing through this young woman. I can't imagine trying to convince my fiancé that I am pregnant with "God's child." Or my parents. I feel like it would be tough getting them to buy that one. At least Joseph got a visit from an angel for some proof. I imagine life would have suddenly become difficult, preparing to take on the role of a mother while feeling vulnerable and looked down upon, despite having done no wrong. Oh what a faith booster this experience had to have been for Mary.
Then, Joseph. What loyalty, faith, and courage this young man displayed, choosing to stick by the side of his future bride, when it would most likely cost him everything he had. His reliance on God, and obedience, is amazing. Another piece of the story.
The Shepherds. The fact that a huge multitude of heavenly beings lit up the night sky in a field in the middle of nowhere, proclaiming to a bunch of lowly shepherds that a Savior was being born, is just mind-boggling. I mean, of all the people to choose from, God chose to send the angels to the shepherds. There would have been plenty of people in town; after all, there was a census taking place. But I'm guessing it wouldn't have mattered that much to the others, who would've been preoccupied with the hustle and bustle of their own lives. So God went to the common, simple shepherds, who immediately responded with joy and determination to find the newborn king.
The Wise Men. Talk about persistence. It's pretty incredible that these wise guys traveled many miles to finally meet the Christ Child, presenting Him with the very best gifts they had to offer. The miraculous guiding light of the star over Bethlehem adds to the wonder of the story of that first Christmas.
The Scene. It's funny how God works. What makes sense to us in our small, finite minds, what seems most logical, is often the exact opposite of what God sees fit for us. In the same way, His plan for the birth of the King is a lot different than the grand entrance I would have dreamed up. Thinking about the King of kings entering the world, I would have chosen a significant, majestic procession, a splendid announcement, a magnificent ceremony. But God had other plans, and rightly so. Jesus Christ came as a humble servant, not to be served, but to love others and draw them to Him. What better way to display his meekness than a quiet birth in a dirty, smelly stable. Oh the irony of delicately wrapping the newborn Savior of the world in strips of cloth, and placing him in a used feeding trough.
God uses the little things to show His great love for us. Praise God for being a God of humility, power, and love, Who displays his love for us through service and sacrifice, not requiring anything of us that He hasn't already been through or done. Praise God for this celebratory season, this holiday of remembrance of His great love for us in coming to earth that quiet, holy night. Merry Christmas!
"Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."
-Philippians 2:5-8
~MM
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