My daughter rearranged our Nativity figures last night.  She moved the sheep here and Mary there, but they are still all gathered together in a circle around baby Jesus in the manger.  We’ve got a couple of glittery angel ornaments on either side of the wooden figures, and these are also facing the little King.  An oversized Advent book, opened to a magnificent picture of that most blessed night in Bethlehem, serves as the backdrop. 

            “The angels are so big,” my daughter noted, pointing to the picture, “and the people are so small down at the bottom of the page here – do you see them?”

            They are so tiny down there that I almost missed them.  My daughter and I talked about it and we realized that in the big picture of God’s creation, we really are such a small part – like little points in time and space.

            Our lives seem so expansive from down here though, don’t they?  My life touches so many others, and yours does too.  We are complex creatures with complex lives.

            What about the real lives of old, who we remember today with Nativity figures?  Surely they were complex creatures too. 

             They lived distinct lives, each engaged in their own individual pursuits, struggling with their own personal concerns and understanding the world from their own unique perspectives.  They came from different directions and diverse backgrounds.  Still, different as they were, these lives were all about to be directly touched by One divine life. 

            I like to look at the events of that night in the city of David from each of these little – and big – points in creation. The shepherds were surely expecting another dull night of keeping watch over the sheep.  Mary and Joseph were also ‘expecting’ but in a very different way!  Their night was turning out to be anything but dull.  Heavenly angels were preparing to give Glory to God in an unprecedented way.

            Nothing could have brought this motley crowd together, save for a savior!

            Something long-expected and yet stunningly new brought them all together:  a virgin birth, a royal baby, The Savior!

            Imagine the wonder that these people experienced on that most wonderful night as they all stood gathered around Immanuel!  Imagine, all of these little points in creation focused completely and intently on that one point in time and space when the unimaginable happened – God entered the world!

            Soon Christmas will bring us, diverse as we are, all together too.  We’ll come from all corners of the mall and all manner of celebrations to refocus on this one point in time and space through which God entered our existence.  Pray with me that it will be with wonder!  And may we rejoice, knowing that (small as we are) we are – individually and collectively – the reason He came!