Unexpected

 Aunt Patty made this Nativity set for David when he was a little boy.

This is a different post for me, the focus is not about our girls or what funny thing Maddy said today. This post is a reminder to everyone (mainly myself) what the true meaning of Christmas is. I thought I was doing pretty good at keeping myself in line with the true meaning of Christmas but this week I have failed miserably. I've been wrapped up in finding the perfect gift for David, gotten on my pity pot about whose family and how much or little time we'll spend with them at Christmas, and gone totally overboard in planning a certain 1 year old's birthday party. Not once this week have I stopped to think and ponder the miracle of Christmas. I know, that's terrible.....

God knew my priorities were wrong so he sent me to the mailbox to check the mail for Christmas cards (something usually David usually does). There were no Christmas cards today. Instead there were several church bulletins (we have been "Church shopping" since we moved here). In the bulletin from Mulberry Methodist here in Macon was this poem. I read this poem and it put everything back in perspective...even if it was in an unexpected way.

Un-Expected

Even now we simply do not expect

to find a Deity in a stable.

Somehow the setting is all wrong:

the swaddling clothes too plain,

the manger too common for the likes of a Savior,

the straw inelegant,

the animals reeking and noisy,

the whole scene too ordinary for our taste.

And the cast of characters is no better.

With the possible exception of the kings,

who among them is fit for this night?

the shepherds? certainly too crude,

the carpenter too rough, the girl too young.

And the baby! Whoever expected a baby?

Whoever expected the advent of God in a helpless child?

Had the Messiah arrived in the blazing light of the glory

of a legion of angels wielding golden swords,

the whole world could have been conquered for Christ

right then and there

and we in the church - to say nothing of the world!--

wouldn't have so much trouble today.

Even now we simply do not expect

to face the world armed with love.

-- Ann Weems, "Unexpected," Kneeling in Bethlehem