[Faith-talk] Daily Thought for Tuesday, December 3, 2013

[Paul]

Hello folks on this third day of December.  I hope that you are doing well, by God's matchless grace and His providential care.

The articles to be posted to the various list have previously been read by many, but because there are more than a few loyal readers who have not read them previously, at least when I saw them, we are repeating them for your benefit, so if you see something that you may have saved in a folder or wherever, don't fret, but have a care for those who haven't read them before at all.

Case in point is today's contribution,  It's entitled "Away In the Manger" by Diane Stark, a writer from Indiana, whose words are as follows:

Last year, our church held a nativity pageant for the Christmas holiday.  We reenacted the story of Jesus' birth, complete with a set portraying Bethlehem, shepherds tending their flocks, the magi and the stable where Jesus was born and placed in a manger.

My two-month-old son, Nathan, portrayed baby Jesus.  He looked adorable, wearing a blue and white tunic.  But I was worried.  How would Nathan handle being in the manger for three hours? And when "Mary" picked him up, would he realize that she wasn't his real mommy? I had visions of him crying because the spotlights bothered his eyes.  I worried that he might have a diaper leak or spit up all over the woman playing Mary.  My imagination ran away with me, convincing me that Nathan would ruin the entire program, making us outcasts in the community.  My poor infant son would be branded a troublemaker for life.  At his high school graduation, I imagined people pointing at him and saying, "There's that boy who ruined our Christmas program 17 years ago."

My worries grew and grew until I was convinced Nathan shouldn't play baby Jesus after all.  I didn't think he could handle the pressure.

I expressed my concerns (okay, my hysteria) to our church's music director.  She held up a baby doll and said, "This will be Nathan's substitute.  If he gets fussy, take him from the manger and replace him with the doll.  No one will even notice."

That seemed like the perfect solution.  I managed to calm down--at least until opening night, when I overheard a little girl say, "Someone said that the baby Jesus is a real baby, Mommy! I can't wait to see him!"  And then my crazy worrying started all over again.

I worried right up to and including the pageant.  But then I overheard two little girls talking.  Both children had just seen the program and both wore the same expression, a mixture of fascination and hope.

The first little girl said, "That play was awesome! It was neat to see angels and magi and even that real live camel!

The second girl said, "I loved it, too.  The camel was cool, but the real live baby Jesus was even better."

The first girl's eyes grew big.  "It was a real baby? I thought it was a doll."

"I saw his arm move," the other girl whispered.  "He was real."

The first girl was unconvinced.  "Anyways it doesn't matter if that baby was real.  I know that the _real Jesus is real."

I smiled at their conversation, touched by the girls' faith.  I wondered which version of the program the girls had seen, with Nathan or with the doll.  But did it matter? Nathan's presence--or lack of it--hadn't made any difference in the message the girls had received.  Jesus is real, and He loved us enough to humble Himself and come to earth as a baby.  Both girls heard the same incredible message of God's love.

And I realized that, as usual, all my worrying had been for nothing.  I had been so distracted by little things, such as a crying baby and diaper leaks, that I completely missed the reason we were putting on the pageant in the first place.

At this time of year, it's easy to become distracted by little details that seem important at the time, but don't mean anything at all in the long run.  The gift buying, the decorating, the rushing about--it's easy to forget why we do any of it.  But then something will happen to remind me, like the conversation between the two little girls.

Jesus is real.  And He's the reason behind everything I do.

And there you have it for today.  Whether you read this story for the first time or for the second, I pray that it ministered to you.  Hey, you ladies, did you have a baby who portrayed Jesus at a similar event, and if so, how did it go? Did he develop a diaper leak or, worse yet, spit up on your church's lady who played the part of Mary? You need not go into details, as that probably would be embarrassing to relate.  However it would be interesting to know if any of your little tykes played baby Jesus.

And now may the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob just keep us safe, individually and collectively, in these last days in which we live.  Lord willing, tomorrow will present another daily thought message for you.  Your Christian friend and brother, Paul