“I kiss your tiny fingers and little
perfect head,
Lay you in the manger that tonight will be your bed.
Tomorrow you will be King,
But tonight you are my baby.”
- Jeannine Q. Norris, from Tonight You Are My Baby: Mary’s Gift
Tomorrow you will be King,
But tonight you are my baby.”
- Jeannine Q. Norris, from Tonight You Are My Baby: Mary’s Gift
Last
Christmas, I had a 6-week old baby and I gained an entirely new perspective on
the humility with which God came and lived among us. I remember looking at my
newborn in awe, wondering at Mary’s thoughts and feelings as she navigated the
experience of a young first-time mother to a demanding newborn.
Newborns are messy. They are loud. They are exhausting and helpless and completely dependent. As we sing “Away in a Manger” and “What Child is This?” we celebrate the God who came to us in the most unassuming and unlikely way. We sing about the Creator of the Universe who also spit up and pooped and needed his mommy. How amazing is this?! And what does this mean??
What does this mean for those of us who are bound to this human frailty? Who struggle and muddle along day to day? What are we to learn from this about ourselves and our fellow travellers in the world?
In Bible College, I had a professor who said something that I will always remember: Everything we learn in Scripture about Jesus’ life has something to teach us about what it means to be human and how we reflect God through our human experience. Jesus’ humanity speaks about our humanity, and about how God interacts with us IN our humanness. Jesus’ humanity also speaks to us about how to see the people around us through God’s eyes.
As I’ve reflected on this truth in light of Jesus as a newborn baby, I think about my own helplessness and neediness. I think about how different I am today than I was at the beginning of my journey in relationship with Christ. I think about how much I need care and understanding and gentleness from the people around me. I am sensitive and I am fragile. I am growing, but slowly, and with many faltering steps. I need patience as I try and fail, as I seek understanding but often get it wrong…
I’m so grateful for Jesus, who understands these needs, who knows the hesitance and awkwardness of being human. I’m so grateful for God’s gentleness with me, for guiding in tenderness and without frustration as I try and try and try again… I am humbled by a God who doesn’t demand that I “get it together” and be “fixed” and be a perfect follower all at once. Instead, there is a Divine Generosity and a grace that allows me to grow in grace and understanding from a “newborn,” gradually changing through ongoing relationship and trust with God and with the people God brings into my path.
I am also prompted to think about how the newborn Jesus challenges me to think differently about other people. How often I am impatient and rush to judgment about where others are (or should be) in their journey with God. How tempting it can be to form assumptions and expectations about how “grown up” others should be when it comes to matters of faith and morality. In the Gospels, we witness Jesus’ development from infancy to youth to adulthood. His humanity is present in his growth.
As I seek to reflect Jesus in my daily life, I long to cultivate the gentleness and grace with others that God offers to me. I know how long my journey has been, how arduous some stages of struggle have been, and how grateful I am for God’s mercy and patience. I pray that I am able to extend this same mercy and patience with others who are on their own journey. Sometimes miracles happen all at once and change happens overnight. More often, though, change happens slowly. Awareness grows and we gradually become ready to be changed. And, in fact, some of the most profound inner work happens in that process of moving toward readiness. Much happens beneath the soil, in the darkness, before we see the sprout push through the surface of the ground.
My prayer is that we would see the gift of Jesus’ humanity in a new way. Would we reflect on our growth (both physically and spiritually) from newborn. Would we be grateful for the grace we are extended as we grow. And would we offer this same grace to others who cross our paths, trusting that God is moving even when we cannot see change.
Newborns are messy. They are loud. They are exhausting and helpless and completely dependent. As we sing “Away in a Manger” and “What Child is This?” we celebrate the God who came to us in the most unassuming and unlikely way. We sing about the Creator of the Universe who also spit up and pooped and needed his mommy. How amazing is this?! And what does this mean??
What does this mean for those of us who are bound to this human frailty? Who struggle and muddle along day to day? What are we to learn from this about ourselves and our fellow travellers in the world?
In Bible College, I had a professor who said something that I will always remember: Everything we learn in Scripture about Jesus’ life has something to teach us about what it means to be human and how we reflect God through our human experience. Jesus’ humanity speaks about our humanity, and about how God interacts with us IN our humanness. Jesus’ humanity also speaks to us about how to see the people around us through God’s eyes.
As I’ve reflected on this truth in light of Jesus as a newborn baby, I think about my own helplessness and neediness. I think about how different I am today than I was at the beginning of my journey in relationship with Christ. I think about how much I need care and understanding and gentleness from the people around me. I am sensitive and I am fragile. I am growing, but slowly, and with many faltering steps. I need patience as I try and fail, as I seek understanding but often get it wrong…
I’m so grateful for Jesus, who understands these needs, who knows the hesitance and awkwardness of being human. I’m so grateful for God’s gentleness with me, for guiding in tenderness and without frustration as I try and try and try again… I am humbled by a God who doesn’t demand that I “get it together” and be “fixed” and be a perfect follower all at once. Instead, there is a Divine Generosity and a grace that allows me to grow in grace and understanding from a “newborn,” gradually changing through ongoing relationship and trust with God and with the people God brings into my path.
I am also prompted to think about how the newborn Jesus challenges me to think differently about other people. How often I am impatient and rush to judgment about where others are (or should be) in their journey with God. How tempting it can be to form assumptions and expectations about how “grown up” others should be when it comes to matters of faith and morality. In the Gospels, we witness Jesus’ development from infancy to youth to adulthood. His humanity is present in his growth.
As I seek to reflect Jesus in my daily life, I long to cultivate the gentleness and grace with others that God offers to me. I know how long my journey has been, how arduous some stages of struggle have been, and how grateful I am for God’s mercy and patience. I pray that I am able to extend this same mercy and patience with others who are on their own journey. Sometimes miracles happen all at once and change happens overnight. More often, though, change happens slowly. Awareness grows and we gradually become ready to be changed. And, in fact, some of the most profound inner work happens in that process of moving toward readiness. Much happens beneath the soil, in the darkness, before we see the sprout push through the surface of the ground.
My prayer is that we would see the gift of Jesus’ humanity in a new way. Would we reflect on our growth (both physically and spiritually) from newborn. Would we be grateful for the grace we are extended as we grow. And would we offer this same grace to others who cross our paths, trusting that God is moving even when we cannot see change.
Arlene M.
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