It’s the present, and you’re sitting
late one evening, dozing off, before the tabernacle in a dark empty church.
Suddenly you are awoken by a tap on your arm, an angel appears before you and
announces that Christ our Savior has been born and urges you to come and visit
this new family. The angel extends his hand, you are hesitant, but upon barely
grabbing it he transports you to the outskirts of Bethlehem.
You see a stable with light coming
from it. When you arrive, you are overtaken by the warm peace within. The new
father Joseph greets you and leads past the silent cow and donkey that seem to
have hardly noticed you, but are focused on a place in the hay where you
see Joseph’s wife resting and holding the new born baby Jesus. Jesus sleeps
peacefully wrapped up safe in her arms. You kneel down near Mary and the
sleeping baby Jesus to get a closer look. He’s perfect, a pink little newborn
with big long eyelashes, and the softest skin. The cutest, most precious baby
you’ve ever seen. As you lean in He opens His eyes and stares at you. Mary
smiles and extends her arms out offering for you to hold her Son.
You shake your heard at first, to hold
a newborn is daunting, He’s so new and tiny and fragile. Most notably, this is Christ. You hardly
feel worthy of the honor, but Mary doesn’t pull back and you can’t resist the chance to hold the little miracle. So you check your hands
and try to wipe them as clean as possible on your clothes you look to Mary wondering
if there was more you could do to prepare. She gives you the most reassuring
smile and insists you hold her Son. With that one look, though you may not feel
ready, you know it’ll be alright with her near you attentively ready to help.
So you carefully take the tiny baby into your arms tenderly cradling His head
into the bend of your elbow. He’s so small in your long arms, and He could
easily fit in the palm of your hands. He’s wide awake now but he doesn’t fuss.
He just gazes up, His eyes full of wonder as He studies your face and he
reaches up to touch it. You gaze back and can’t take your eyes off of Him. You
just look at Him with complete adoration. Any prior fears you had are gone. You’re
captivated and in love. You think how you love Him, and you would do anything
to protect Him from harm. He’s so fragile and beautiful.
Then you your face falls as you realize, being
from the future, this tiny child in your arms is Christ your savior. You know that already there is a nearby king desiring His death and in the future He'll face much ridicule and rejection and finally betrayal. He will choose to take upon all of this out of sincere perfect love to deliver us from our transgressions. This tiny
child will carry the weight of all your sins. He will suffer greatly. As if He
senses what you are thinking his tiny hand and all five little fingers reach as
far as they can and grip tightly around your index finger. “Don’t look away
from me” He seems to be saying with His eyes, “trust in me, I love you.” Tears
roll down your face, both sorrow for sins you know will cause Him pain, and tears of awe at how generously forgiving and loving He is. Jesus continues to hold onto you with a firm grip. The
weight of your worries is immediately lifted and peace flows through you in the
presence of this child. You're able to rest now with Him. He is at peace too in your arms just watching you,
holding you, and loving you. He trusts you to keep holding onto Him and
watching Him, and soon He dozes off in your arms still gripping your finger.
You stay and remain adoring this dear little one who loves you more than you
can imagine.
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