I've heard and read the Christmas story countless times throughout my life, but when I was teaching it to Olivia it took on a whole new meaning. When I think about a lot of stories from the bible I often think back to Sunday school - you know the cutesy little stories - and Jesus was born and they wrapped him in a nice cozy soft blanket and laid him in a little cradle...Never mind that this woman who was 9 month pregnant traveled for days on a donkey! On a donkey!!! I wouldn't do that on a good day, let alone being pregnant! Then when she got where she was going she didn't have a nice little hospital room, she didn't get a doula, she didn't get an epidural....
So as I'm telling Olivia the story I get to the part about Jesus being born in a stable and she asks, "mom, what's a stable?" I told her it was like a barn - I know it was probably more like a cave in the side of a mountain, but I knew she would understand "barn" better. Olivia replies with a tone that only can imply 'you have got to be kidding me' saying, "a barn?!?"
me: Yes, honey, a barn!
Olivia: But why did his mommy have him in a barn?
me: Because that's the only place they had to go, they didn't have any family there, their house was far far away and no one would let them come in their house.
Olivia: Well, if Jesus's mommy came to our house would it be okay if I opened the door? (She got in trouble the other day for trying to open the door for the UPS guy and then opening the door for the neighbor)
me: Only if mommy says it's okay first
I know the answer should have just been yes, but I can't tell her it's okay to open the door to strangers.
So it was this conversation that just made me think a little...
The God of the universe was a helpless baby, in a cold and filthy stable. He was probably wrapped in filthy rags and he was placed in a feed trough! He was surrounded by people so heartless that they wouldn't even give up a bed to a laboring mother. God isn't some made-up super hero - if he were, he would have made a grand entrance, instead he came in to this world in the form of a baby - just like you and me, only under the most horrible circumstances any mother could ever imagine! God had all the power to make this a fairy tale story, but He didn't!
Isn't it amazing how God can use a 3 year old to make you understand and really appreciate something? I can't believe what Olivia taught me in 5 minutes that I had never learned in 29 years - I mean I knew the story, but this little princess brought about a whole new meaning and appreciation for something I just took for granted.
On Christmas Eve He was fully God; on Christmas Day He was a baby! This Christmas season appreciate the miracle of Christmas by trying to imagine the extreme contrast from the night before.
Merry Christmas
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