God With Us

Of all the images that surface this time of year, my favourite is the nativity. I love nativity scenes, and the Christmas Story. I love thinking about that time, when Mary gave birth to Jesus; she knew He was special and not just any baby. The angel had come to her and explained what His role would be:“And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David.” (Luke 1:31-32)
Mary’s husband Joseph also had an angelic visitation, in a dream. The angel spoke to reassure him that he should proceed with his marriage to Mary:“She will bear a Son and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” (Matthew 2: 21)
The prophet Isaiah spoke also of Jesus, foretelling His birth: “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel (God with us)” Isaiah 7:14
Imagine, God coming to us in the form of a tiny baby! But the story does not end at that stable in Bethlehem. We love to gaze on that scene, on baby Jesus, so sweet and helpless. But that babe grew up; a man, yet fully God. He walked with humankind, and experienced life as they did. He was Almighty God, yet left the glory of that position to show us what God is like. Not only that, but He gave His own life in payment for the sins of the world.

We love the warm fuzzies we get when we decorate, hang pretty lights, and listen to Christmas Carols. But there is so much more to the Christmas Story than the babe and the shepherds and the wise men. That baby became a man, died for us, and is now alive in Heaven. He was born, not to give us a reason for a Christmas season, but to make a way for us to be reconciled to God. So when you see him there in the manger, fast forward to our ultimate cause for celebration, God’s great love gift to us: He came to die, so that we might have life.

A Moveable Mess, or, In the Meantime......

Nine years ago my hubbie and I downsized to a tidy little two bedroom bungalow. The kids had grown and gone, so we thought it was time to find something smaller with less upkeep. It was a good idea, but we now find ourselves a bit cramped.

Our former house had a finished attic which hubbie used as his art studio. There were three bedrooms and a bathroom on the second floor, then kitchen, living room, den, family room and bathroom on the main floor. The basement was unfinished, but great for hiding "stuff" and doing laundry. There was also a single car garage which we usually kept full of more "stuff".

Now we have kitchen, living room, dining room, two small bedrooms, bathroom and a family room addition which hubbie has marked as "his territory". (I get to sit in there sometimes; it is the best room in the house, lots of natural light). The basement is unfinished, and there is also a garage. One of the bedrooms has a bunk bed (double bed on the bottom, single on the top) which is great for when grandkids sleep over. The room is about ten by ten, which doesn't leave much space left over. It is the room that I keep trying to make "mine" where I can sew, write, read, make jewellry, and fill with all my own personal "stuff", like books and yarn and fabric etc. etc. Although the picture above isn't of my room, it does bear a striking resemblance.

I keep trying to find that space where I can roost, with all my stuff around me, and create, or just be. It hasn't happened. My home is dotted with piles of books, papers, fabric, yarn, cd's and tapes. Whenever I have company, the dining room table gets cleared off and my piles get relocated into the spare room. I call it my "moveable mess".

Today, I am having another go at the spare room. Hubbie is going to move the filing cabinet there from the basement, and once again, I will try to get myself organized. I might even set my sewing machine up on the little desk in there. I'll have to deal with a couple of bins full of papers etc. first. There is also a computer in there, and I hope to purchase a new printer to go along with it.

Hubbie has promised to make me a room in the basement. But I don't know when this might actually occur, so in the meantime, I'm doing the best I can with what I have. My new little room will be (God willing) bright and warm and cozy, and will have shelves and a work table and I will be able to leave things set up there. We have also tossed around the idea of finishing our little attic, and have spent many hours on the Internet MLS site, looking for our perfect house in the country. But all must be in God's timing.

It's like that for us believers, I think. As "aliens" here on earth, we have to "make do" with the fallen world we live in, and the fallen selves that we are. Our made alive spirits yearn for that perfect place, and that perfect, sin free self that is promised at our final glorification. In the meantime, we endure temptation, frustration, and a heavenly homesickness that cannot be described, only experienced. We so look forward to the day when we will finally be "home", forever with our Lord, and living that perfect, eternal life that we were created for.

For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. (Romans 8:22,23)