O Come, O Come Emmanuel
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I'm pretty sure the day before Jesus Christ's birth, Mary and Joseph were not the only ones begging for Christ's arrival as He grew heavier and heavier in Mary's young, tired, virgin body. I can imagine that all of Earth, in some way or another, was begging and impatiently waiting for Jesus to make His entrance to the world. I can imagine the angels watching Earth ever so carefully in expectancy of the King coming to save His people.
Could you imagine what we label as "Christmas Eve" looked like 2,000 years ago? We hustle and bustle to get the perfect gift, to get to the airport, to get to our place of destination to spend time with family friends. I imagine it to be the total opposite 2,000 years ago. I imagine Christmas Eve to be silent and just like every other night. No one was running around in preparation of Christ, except Mary and Joseph. No one doted on Mary, a common girl, hand and foot as if she was actually carrying the Messiah Himself.
BUT THEN...
The world is forever changed in an instant! Christ is born! I love how Beth Moore puts it in Jesus, the One and Only:
"... then finally, miraculously, majestically--the time came. God's voice broke through the barrier of the natural realm through the cries of an infant, startled by life on the outside. The Son of God had come to earth, wrapped in a tiny cloak of human flesh."
It makes me think of that song "Mary Did You Know": did she know as she held her tiny baby in her hands that in three short decades, her Son would call men to ditch their old lives and follow Him for a new one? Did she know that that tiny little body wrapped so tightly in her arms would stretch out His on a cross to save all of humanity? Did she know the very God who fashioned her and breathed life into her and all of creation was now in her lap? That He would be called King of Kings and Lord of Lords?
Gosh, that brings tears to my eyes! Imagine if this day was blotted out of history. Imagine if our Savior hadn't gotten up from His throne to become a lowly man--a carpenter-- born into poverty to save His children.
But thank God allowed this night to happen!
O Holy Night!