Holidays

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Had I lost the Baby Jesus? I was almost finished assembling the outdoor nativity set. The lights were connected and Mary, Joseph, and the star were lit. All that remained was the placement of the Baby Jesus in the manger.

But where was the Baby Jesus? I knew my granddaughter had brought all of the nativity figures upstairs when she had come to help me during Thanksgiving vacation. Mary and Joseph had been cleaned and placed in the yard. I was waiting to finish until I had checked that the lights were in working order. Now all the lights lighted. Only Baby Jesus was nowhere to be found. After looking in all the likely places I might have put him, I finally remembered that we had set the characters on the enclosed porch until they could b washed. When I opened the porch door, there on the table was the Baby Jesus, waiting for me to find him.

Easy fox! But how many times, in the hustle and bustle of our Christmas preparations, do we also lose the Baby Jesus? We have trees to decorate, gifts to buy, presents to wrap, parties to attend and host, cards to address, cookies to bake. We spend the weeks before Christmas stressed by all the things on our to do list, worrying about how we are going to keep everyone happy when cousin Cue is not talking to Uncle John, and distressed because we don't know how we are going to pay the credit card company.

In the flurry of activity it is possible that we have also lost the Baby Jesus? If we want to find the joy Jesus has come to bring us we may have to say NO to some of the things we would really like to do - No to the number of parties we attend or hot, No to the amount of decorating we do. It takes discipline to resolve that it is not necessary to buy everything on the list our family gives us. Holiday specials depict Christmas extravaganzas that have very little to do with the birth of Christ, and it is easy to forget the reason we celebrate. But if we lose the Baby Jesus, we may also be lost ourselves.

If you have lost the Baby Jesus because of other things crowding him out of your life, slow down and you will find him. He is there, waiting for you to open the door of your heart. Jesus says, I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you" (Revelations 3:20).

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