On Christmas eve my family takes turns reading the story of the birth of Jesus. This year as we read it I realized how different the Savior's birth is from any of our birth stories.
I am a December baby, I was born in New York City and as you may imagine there was a snow storm the day my mother went into labor. The roads were so bad my father had to pull over several times. Finally a police officer spotted him and helped escort us to the hospital. Four days before we celebrated the birth of our Savior in 1973, I was born. My mom tells me the story every year when she calls me to wish me a happy birthday.
Can you imagine the Mary recounting the story of his birth to Jesus every year as she celebrated his birthday. What could she say to him? She would tell him, "your father and I walked from inn to inn as I was in labor." "We struggled to find a place to bring you into the world."
Imagine Mary telling Jesus there was no where to put him right after his birth, except for a filthy manger. A place where animals had eaten their meals earlier that day. What do you suppose Jesus' reaction was?
Jesus was not surprised at all, he knew he would come into this world the way he did. He came to this world worse off than any of us. He came to show us the way. He came to give us life. He came to die on the cross so we could live with Him forever.
I am thankful and grateful that Jesus came into this world to give us life. I want to spend my days letting God mold me into the person he wants me to be. It's the least I can do, is give my life to him. Thank you Jesus that you came into this life in a dirty manger to bring us life.
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