Come, Emmanuel!

We are moving a candle - and Mary - nearer and nearer to the much-anticipated day when we celebrate the birth of Christ. This is the first year we have actually had an advent candle in our home and I wish we had done it long ago. There is something very anticipatory about lighting that candle and moving the donkey - with its precious cargo - closer to the day we have commercialized into a multi-billion dollar business. Somehow the simplicity of lighting that candle is reminding me what Christmas is really about! God on a redemptive mission.

Emmanuel - God with us. Jesus coming into our world. Living as a man. Struggling with all the same stuff we do. In order to pay a ransom we couldn't pay. Every day a day closer to our redemption. How exciting is that?

He is the ultimate Christmas gift. The riches of God given to man. It costs us nothing and yet it cost Him everything.

The irony is not lost on me. We turn this time of year into a harried mess - stressing ourselves to the max to spend more and enjoy less while a very poor and very pregnant Mary journeyed one day at a time on a donkey to give birth to her firstborn child in a manger. No family. No friends. No midwife. No comforts. And yet - God was in her.

My prayer for us this special time of the year is that we would take one day at a time and savor it to the full. God is present in this day. And this day is the only day in which He comes to you.

COME, Emmanuel!