wee little lad

This shot was taken from a receptionist's desk. The figurines are tiny, but I felt they deserved to be focused upon.

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Jesus did not leave us with instructions to remember his birth. Quite the opposite. We are mandated a remembrance of his death and resurrection. And we do that frequently... every time we receive communion.

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But about Christ's birth... We do not know the exact date that Mary gave birth to her Creator. And it seems that there are so many things competing for our attention today. Like a carefully orchestrated conspiracy, tons of events compete to diminish God's indescribable gift. Things are some of the things on "my desk" right now:

• Dear friends and family who are sick and in pain.
• People close to me who have painful memories of Christmas past.
• One coworker is hurting from a freshly broken relationship.
• There are people from the food pantry that are out of work.
• S2's birthday celebration was eclipsed by S1's accident.
• D1 has to work under especially stressful conditions.

Where is the season's cheer in all of this?

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In the middle of whatever you have going on personally, I hope you can temporarily take your eyes off of all the other things "on our desk," and at some level, enjoy this monumental event, that God's love was so great, that He became a man, so that He might later die for those who he came to save.

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Update on S1: He has been in the hospital since Wednesday. They're performing surgery today to wire his jaw shut. He chipped some teeth, but that can't be fixed before his jaw heals, so he will have to endure 6 weeks of warm liquid meals. Cold drinks hurt too much.

almost here

It's less than a week away!!!

(And I still have lots to do.)

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The idea for this photo was hovering in my head for a long time and this morning, I realized that if I don't hurry up, I'll miss the day! I was really hoping for a little better quality, a larger nativity scene, and a view unobstructed by mailboxes or recycling bins, but I think you get the idea, right?