Let Your Soul be a Manger

Christmas season is in full swing. Presents have been bought or still need to be bought (guilty not done yet). Family and friend parties keep piling up, and the house may not even be decorated yet. It’s a hectic time of year. I will be the first to say, I haven’t used this time of preparation wisely. There have been moments that I have felt the anticipation of the Christ child about to be born, but it hasn’t consumed the whole season. Life has captured my attention and Christmas just seems to be something that will happen, and it will all be over just like it is every year.

This all changed when I heard one of my favorite contemporary Christmas songs, and that’s saying a lot because I love the classics soooooooo much. It’s “Welcome to our World” by Chris Rice. Throughout the whole song, I cannot help, but see the baby Jesus in my arms as I sing him this song, welcoming him to this world. How I am so happy that He exists and has come. Partly because of what He will do, but mostly because of who He is. He is my God who has come to me. In that moment when I hold Jesus Christ in my arms as a baby, the joy I feel in my soul is indescribable. I am simply happy being in the presence of God. Not for what He will do for me or anyone else, simply because He is God.

I feel everyone, even God, deserves to be seen and be loved simply for being them, for merely existing. Jesus Christ is pure love and masked as an innocent child, and shows the utter humility of divine love. It isn’t who does the most or to win; it is simply to love the other, to will the good of the other. Jesus Christ was born into this world, a world where no one wanted Him, except His parents. There was nowhere for Him to lay His head, as the Son of God was born in a manger.

One of my favorite lines from the song is “Hope that you don’t mind our manger. How I wish we would have known.” Can you imagine knowing that the Son of God would be born how quickly people would make room? Still it happens every year that Christmas comes and goes in a whirl wind and somewhere along the way the miracle of the Word becoming flesh is celebrated, and we missed it.

Christ, in His humility and littleness, was born in a barn in a feeding box, but what He’s always longed for is a place to rest His head, a place to call home. Let your heart and soul be that manger. Let your soul delight simply in being in the presence of God that even though this world can look like a mess Christ is in it and that is good. All is well as long as God is present. Let Him touch your souls this Christmas season because He has always wanted it. It doesn’t matter if it’s a dirty manger; the glory of God cannot be hidden the angels, shepherds, and wise men all knew.

Give what you have, even if it seems so small and dirty like a manger. Christ will still come, and if Christ lives in you, you will shine for all to see, just like the star showed the way for Christ. God cannot be hidden by earthly appearances. So I ask you to be like Mary and Joseph, see the Son of God. See what true love looks like and experience Him, and you will find true joy for no other reason than you are holding the Son of God, Jesus Christ, and all is well simply because He is here.