She gave birth to a son, her firstborn. She wrapped him in a blanket and laid him in a manger, because there was no room in the hostel. (Luke 2:6b-7 The Message)
All this energy issues from Christ: God raised him from death and set him on a throne in deep heaven, in charge of running the universe, everything from galaxies to governments, no name and no power exempt from his rule. And not just for the time being, but forever. He is in charge of it all, has the final word on everything. (Ephesians 1:20-21 The Message)
Do you ever just sit in a chair for an hour pondering the immensity of how these two verses describe the same One? Today instead of working through the list of things I am supposed to do, that is what I am doing. It feels more necessary than breathing.
I am at this stage of life when I can be assailed by the greatest doubts—about my life, about the choices I have made, wondering if I will have what I need when I need it for the people I love, wondering if I have not listened well and maybe really squandered the gifts that were mine to give. Worrying. Or wondering. Will I have enough? Will my life be enough? Have I messed it all up?
I curl up in my chair and contemplate these verses. The One who is in charge of it all, who has the final word on everything is the same One who was wrapped in a plain old blanket and laid in a feeding trough.
That feeding trough could not possibly have been an accident. I hold that as I think of recent events that reminded me how some children come home to deluxe car seats and rolls-royce, 4-wheel drive strollers and beautiful wardrobes of fashion-matchy outfits, while others ride crowded in the backseats of broken down cars driven across town before the sun rises to drop a father off at work.
The God of galaxies and governments and POWER is so much easier to want to follow than the One of poverty. Low birth. Descendency. Emptying.
When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. (Philippians 2:6 The Message)
The throne came by way of everyday blankets and feeding troughs. So maybe being stuck with my humanity, my poverty, my mistakes and messes isn’t such a bad deal. Because the real gift of Christmas, is that because Jesus is enough and because emptiness was enough, then I am enough.
Jesus is enough.
In that, I marvel and rejoice. And claim for all who are poor like me.
Christ's Children Ministries 