A Great Reminder...

Each week I receive an email from MOPS. The one I received this morning contained the following:




The children were nestled all snug in
their beds, while visions of sugar plums danced in their heads.
(Clement Clark Moore)

Christmas Eve
Elisa Morgan, CEO
I kissed my grandson Marcus good night and his mommy carried him upstairs to bed. He was excited from the evening filled with new experiences: a chicken nugget dinner out at a restaurant, bright, glittery wrapping paper revealing Christmas jammies, a story read by candlelight beside a glowing Christmas tree, the promise of Santa in the morning. 'Twas the night before Christmas. A magical night filled with child-like anticipation, heart-warming memories-in-the-making, and snuggling "Nigh Nigh's."

"I love my beddie," Marcus pronounced just before falling asleep. "It's so cozy."

Don't we all? Comfy. Snuggly. Cuddly. Cozy. Ah ... those moments in life when we can wrap ourselves up in safety, knowing we are loved.

Long ago, one new family journeyed toward a place - any place - where they could stop and rest and be safe to deliver their firstborn. Comfy. Snuggly. Cuddly. Cozy. Such concepts were far from their reality. Instead, other words described their experience. Cold. Unwelcomed. Alone. Exposed. But God met them, showed them to a stable and covered them with his provision as Jesus, the Christ-child, came into the world.

As you tuck your little ones into their beds this Christmas Eve, with visions of sugar plums dancing in heads all around your home, pause to consider the lengths to which God went to ensure your comfort. In a stable, surrounded by animals, far away from extended family, with very young parents to watch over him, God's Son came to earth as a baby and was wrapped in the discomfort of rough cloth and placed on poky straw. From that beginning, he grew up as a carpenter's son in a common home and ended his life in the humiliating torture of the crucifixion.

Our God made himself very uncomfortable in order that we might experience true comfort in a relationship with him.

Thank God for your discomfort, Jesus.