A King laying in a manger, welcomed by the sheep and their lowly shepherds, carried by a poor, young mother with no bed to lay her head.

Mystery of all mysteries that the Mighty Creator of the universe would enter into our world.

That He would willingly give up heaven and its angels to wear human frailty is beyond comprehension, beyond imagining. In all our hopes and all our dreaming, if we prayed every prayer we could ever dare to whisper, never would we have thought to ask that the I AM THAT I AM would come as a babe, embracing infancy and its vulnerability. We would never dream that He would come as a poor carpenter, experiencing the needs of poverty and the pains of an empty stomach. We would never have believed He would come as anything less than a conquering King with an army to fight with Him and enemies falling at His feet.

And yet, He defied the expectations. He came to offer freedom to His enemies and to show mercy to those who despised Him. He came not to offer freedom from tyrannical governments or the hardships of life that are only temporary battles. No, He came to offer victory over sin, shame, fear, and death – the diseases of the soul that only the divine can liberate us from.

He chose the pain of our sins, the feebleness of a human body, and a life surrounded by the people so many rejected.

He chose it, every second and every hour, the shame, the ridicule, the rejection for us. For me. For you.

May my heart be like that stable, a place where His divinity can meet my humanity. May my life be like that manger, where His Holy Presence can rest. May I be a place that others can see the Christ, the Hope of the World, come for them.

Mystery of mysteries, that the Creator of the universe would not only enter my world, but my heart. That He would answer prayers before my heart knew to cry them or my mouth was willing to speak them. That He would offer victory and freedom where I only had sin and despair. That He would not turn His face away from my shame, but instead enter into it and cleanse me of it.

He was born for me and He was born in me.

May our hearts be the place He enters into once again, with the promises of Mercy, Hope, and Redemption only He can deliver.