In His Hands

As some (most?) of you know, my husband and I recently had our third child by birth (fourth including by adoption, but that is for another post). Having a baby again is an interesting experience. Of course, we are thrilled and humbled and enchanted by this tiny life entrusted into our care. However, when we are not lost in his eyes or big piles of diapers or laundry, we notice little points of interest about babies.

Our baby couldn't do very much when he was born. He could cry, suck, and expel waste. However, it was enough, together with the care of his parents, to survive. It is amazing how God has created babies, helpless little infants, with just enough knowledge to do what is necessary. He gives them instincts or reflexes that they automatically do. One of my favorites, though I don't know any health benefit or scientific significance behind it, is the reflex that causes their little hands to grab whatever is in it. Our older kids love to put their fingers in his palm and feel his tiny fingers squeeze theirs. I'll admit, I love it, too. So many things those hands will learn to do in my baby's lifetime, but for now, they can only clench.

Knowing the physical inabilities of a baby, it is astounding that the Lord of all creation, the only-begotten of God, would subject Himself to that sort of limitation. His hands, so weak and tiny at His birth, would work, bless, heal, and eventually be pierced for our sins. And it doesn't end there. Those same hands, once still and cold in death, were alive and warm and even touched by His disciple, seeking proof of His resurrection.

At Christmas, it is easy to only think of Jesus the Holy Infant. We must also remember, though, that Christmas is not the end. It is, rather, the beginning of His time with us. He came for one purpose, to reconcile us to God. And that reconciliation was only possible through Jesus' life, death, and resurrection.

Christmas Traditions

People have different things that they always to at Christmastime, traditions that they follow. For some people, it may be as simple as always exchanging gifts. For others, they may have lists of cookies to make every year, a specific place for each and every decoration, and special meals to prepare and share with others. Growing up, my family tended toward the latter.

One of my most prized Christmas decorations is a paint-your-own nativity set that my father had given my grandfather one year. Grandpa enjoyed painting it so much that the next year, he bought and painted a set for each of his five sons. Years later, shortly before my husband Karl and I were going to be married, my widowed grandmother was on hospice, diagnosed with terminal cancer. She began going through her things and listing what she wanted to go to whom. She decided that she wanted Karl and me to have the original nativity set.

This was and still is an incredibly precious gift to me. As a child and even now, I always loved setting up the pieces of the set and seeing the matching ones at my grandparents' and aunts and uncles' houses. It was also rather emblematic of our family's focus during Advent and Christmas. While we did do the whole cookies-decorations-visit Santa-give and receive gifts thing, my parents always made sure my sister and I knew that Christmas was about Christ coming to seek and save those who were lost in the darkness of sin, ourselves included.

Why lies He in such mean estate, where ox and ass are feeding? Good Christians, fear for sinners here the silent Word is pleading. Nails, spear shall pierce Him through, the cross be borne for me, for you. Hail, hail the Word made flesh, the Babe, the Son of Mary. (from What Child Is This?)