Thoughts on Christmas Eve

There He is, the Savior of the world
Lying helplessly in a manger
Warmed by the hot breath of beasts,
Sobbing as the winter wind
Blows across His beautiful face…
Uncaring people lock Him out
Of Bethlehem homes and inns,
Forcing Him to be born
In a dark, freezing, fetid cave.
Enriching the world with His treasures,
Of water gushing from rivers and streams,
Of endless food from oceans and plains,
Of gold and silver in snow-capped mountains,
And everything else besides, the Baby lies there
Poor as the poor He came to save…
There He opens His tiny eyes confused, frightened,
Suddenly thrust into a vast, overwhelming world,
Crammed into a mere pinpoint of its time and space.
He who is infinite, beyond all borders,
Beyond all times, lies in utter acceptance
Of His limits…
God became man,
Wealth become want,
Power become paltriness,
Ecstasy in heaven to agony on earth
Because the world He came to save rejects him.
How much that Baby loves me!
How much He will suffer for me and mine,
Through freezing Bethlehem nights,
Through nightmares of the cross crowding the horizon,
Through shouts of scorn from Pharisees and Publicans,
And through the piercing, searing abandonment of Calvary…
For us?  The Babe of Bethlehem does all that for us?
That holy sacrifice
Begun in a manger and finished on a cross?
All that for us? Yes, thank God, all of that, for us!
O come then, let us adore Him.
O come, let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord!