Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year!

We have celebrated Christmas at home this year, with five of our seven children, and Peter’s brother, Ken. It was very special to be together, especially as last year was very quiet, with our family scattered all over the world.

Last week I was playing beautiful Christmas Carols while sewing a Christmas apron as a gift. The timeless words of the songs seeped into my consciousness while I sewed. By the time we got to “Noel, noel!”, I found myself overwhelmed with tears …

“…Noel Noel Noel Noel
Born is the King of Israel!
This star drew nigh to the northwest
O’er Bethlehem it took it’s rest
And there it did both stop and stay
Right o’er the place where Jesus lay
Noel Noel Noel Noel
Born is the King of Israel! … “

The words painted pictures in my mind. I saw a tiny new-born baby, bathed and bundled in His mother’s arms. She was so very young. And he was so pristine, tiny, helpless and innocent. I reached out and touched his hand, and his tiny fingers closed around one of mine. Protest and protectiveness surged within me. These two innocents … vulnerable and unaware of what lay ahead.

“Mary, did you know..?” Surely she couldn’t have, or else every moment with her beloved Child would have been poisoned by dread! Of course, she knew she had given birth to the Messiah. An angel had told her. And told her fiance, Joseph, too. Her cousin Elizabeth’s outpouring greeting of prophetic poetry confirmed it. Shepherds were on their way to kneel at the manger, radiant with awe after what they had seen and heard. Angelic hosts had crowded their normal canopy of evening sky, announcing the birth of the Saviour of the World, and rocking the Heavens with light and praise! Joy to the world!

But did Mary know her baby was born to die for the sins of the world? I don’t know, but I don’t think so.

I took my foot off the sewing machine pedal. I wiped my eyes, and digested the moment. King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Prince of Peace!

Although right then, Mary didn’t know, and the tiny baby surely couldn’t have known: BUT! Before leaving Glory, He did! The Creator of all life chose to leave His Home of All-Glory, All-Power, All-Holiness to breathe inside the body of a tiny, helpless human being. He chose to trust Himself into the inexperienced hands yet pure heart of a teenage girl. To be born amongst stable animals, and placed in a manger for His bed.

The Son of God left a world of light and beauty-beyond-imagination, to grow up during a dark time in world history. A country oppressed by invaders. A human family who were devout, hardworking, respectable, and poor! I’ve sometimes pondered when and how the realisation of His Identity and Mission dawned within the body and mind of Jesus, this God-human Child?

What we do know is, by the time He was just twelve, Jesus knew Who He was. “Didn’t you know I must be about My Father’s business?” He asked his mother and Joseph. It’s beyond me, how this Child felt as He began to ‘remember’ or realise the Truth – that He is the Way, the Truth and the Life, and that no-one (no one!) can come to Father God except by Him!

I’m so grateful for those unexpected moments of emotion last week before Christmas: grief and gratitude. Christmas can be so busy that we don’t have time to pause and truly give thanks. Our Awesome, Great, Powerful and Holy God loves us so very much that He sent His only Son, heart of His heart, so that whoever (no one is excluded!) believes in Him will not die, but have eternal life.

That’s the reason we celebrate Christmas! Jesus was born to die, so that we can live … forever!

Thank You, Jesus! ‘Feliz Navidad’ … from the bottom of our hearts!