Have you ever experienced several seemingly disconnected events that finally come together to open your mind and heart to a new understanding, and you won’t ever be quite the same? Tonight I’ve had just such an experience. Through it I realized that I had been looking at something so familiar that some of the joy had been overlooked.
It began with John the Baptizer speaking through Pastor Lynn’s heart on Sunday; talking about playing with his cousin, Jesus, and staying for a time with Aunt Mary and Uncle Joseph. I never considered that John and Jesus may have had a relationship before that fateful day at the Jordan River. Maybe they did, maybe they didn’t, and it doesn’t matter. It just helps me see them as more human.
Then on Saturday evening, George and I went to granddaughter, Jenny’s, 16th B.D. party. My great-grandson, Dennis, was there, all blonde haired, blue eyed, 19 months of him. He found Grandma Carol’s Christmas ornament balls and was carrying them around until his mom caught him. As she approached him to get the ornaments out of harms way, he threw them across the room, one going to the left and one to the right. A moment I, and probably most parents, remember having experienced with their own children.
Later that night I was looking on-line for something to put in our Christmas cards rather than the usual Christmas letter. I came across the following poem:
Wonder
There is faint music in the night, And pale wings fanned by silver flight; A frosty hill with tender glow Of countless stars that shine on snow. A shelter from the winter storm, A straw-lined manger, safe and warm, And Mary crooning lullabies, To hush her Baby's sleepy sighs. Her eyes are rapt upon His face, Unheeded here is time and space; Her heart filled with blinding joy, For God's own Son--her little Boy!
Author unknown
And finally, my grandson, Logan’s, 14 B.D. celebration tonight. Another blonde who is a sensitive, happy, loved young man – just as I’m sure Jesus was at 14.
Mary’s little boy….. Now I know Jesus wasn’t a little blonde, blue eyed bundle of fun, but he was 19 months old at some point. He was probably caught with something he shouldn’t have, perhaps one of Joseph’s carpenter tools, and I bet he threw it just like Dennis threw those Christmas ornaments. For his 14th birthday, he probably didn’t get a tool box full of tools, at least not ones with green and black rubber handles, and I’m sure he did not get a video game, but he was without a doubt a sensitive, caring, happy, much loved boy.
So, all of this came together for me this Advent evening. Mary’s little boy at 19 months, checking things out, doing mischief, challenging the boundaries; Jesus at 14 years, interested in many things, sensitive to the people and world around him; Jesus as cousin, teen, young adult, and finally teacher, friend, Savior, God.
Thank God for new insight and people who can help me open my eyes to the mystery and glory that I sometimes miss because it is so familiar.
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