I have had the opportunity the past few years to travel more than usual & have ventured internationally a bit too. Each time I visit a new place, I come home with an even clearer picture of how big our world is. That, coupled with the fact that my precious mother is a flight attendant, has enabled me to begin & add to my new collection: nativities.
Each year, as I remove them from storage & shake a year full of dust off, I reminisce on the story behind each of them. They range in countries from Antigua, Mexico, Peru, Germany, Ireland & Senegal. They are all so culturally unique & the artisanship in each of them is so diverse, but the reality is they all share a crucial commonality: Christ being born in the manger surrounded by both His earthly parents & wise men in adoration. This allows me to reflect on an even bigger picture of what's to come in the Lord's timing. In Revelation 7:9 it tells us "After this I looked & there before me was a great multitude that no one can count , from every nation, tribe, people & language, standing before the throne & in front of the lamb. They were wearing white robes & were holding the palm branches in their hands." Although my collection is only a handful of nations, it allows me to visualize God's work throughout the country, nations & world as people groups everywhere taste & see of His unconditional love & goodness.
With the hustle & bustle of the holidays, more than normal traffic & frantically searching for those perfect gifts for loved ones it is easy for me lose sight of what our family celebrates this Christmas. Our hope this year is that we can truly grasp what it means in John 1:14 which states “The word became flesh & made His dwelling among us…” God made himself fully human & came from above down below. It is beyond humbling that Christ could have come to earth in mighty power, but came as an infant. As equally humbling is the fact that when the Lord was born in the manger that night, the first ears God chose to hear of the good news were the shepherds taking watch in the fields, the lowliest of lows, those that lived and watched over the sheep. At the same time, this puts the gospel into perspective. God uses the ordinary to do the extraordinary & when He is at work all things are possible. We have been given the gifts of gifts. Merry Christmas to all, & g’night!
