Small Changes

My chin is cold.

I shaved my beard off today. It's been some years since my chin was last naked and exposed to the elements. It's not like I had a really thick beard, but somehow that little patch of hair has made a big difference where insulation is concerned. Just a small change, but my experience of the world is different.

That difference is dwarfed by the response of those around me. The loss of just a few inches of facial hair has caused people who have known me for years to double take. My children are not sure they are comfortable with the "new me." It's amazing how such a quick change (it took just minutes) has made such a big difference in how people perceive me.

All of this has me thinking. What small changes, small choices, am I making each day, and how are they impacting me? How are they impacting others?

What small actions am I doing, or not doing, that are shaping my life.

I think it was John Lennon who said, "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." I know that the trajectory of my life has been incredibly impacted my major events, but I am beginning to recognize that the small choices and changes have a huge impact over time.

Small choices can fan the flames of love or can cause my soul to grow cold...like my chin.

The Advent of Growth

The miracle of Christmas is that God was born as a human. God became one of us, truly one of us. He did not appear in human likeness. The Christ, the Son of God, became one of us as His body was formed in His mother's womb, just as my body was knit together in my mother's womb.

When Christ came to earth, He didn't appear full grown. Jesus was born into this world with the blood, sweat, and probably tears through his mother's labor. He was born as a baby, not knowing or being able to do much at all. He had a lot to learn.

Baby Jesus had to learn how to breast feed. He had to learn how to crawl, how to walk, how to run. He had to be potty trained. Jesus had to grow in knowledge and wisdom as well. It wasn't just physical growth. He had to learn how to relate. He had to learn language, or in his time and place, languages. He would have learned Hebrew (the language of the scriptures), Aramaic (the language of the streets), and probably a smattering of Greek (the language of society and culture) and Latin (the language of government). He also learned a trade, carpentry. 

Jesus didn't just pop into our world and start performing miracles. He lived a full life of childhood and through adolescence to manhood. In being born, growing, and learning as we all do, Jesus sanctified the process, he showed these to be holy activities, or at least that they could be done in a holy and sinless way.

I was struck by this anew recently as I was berating myself for failing to do something that I knew was best, that I ultimately wanted to do. I felt like I should be farther along already. I should be done growing. As I took this to the Lord, I felt the gentle reminder that He was patient with me. In my petulance I felt myself bristle internally, feeling that He couldn't understand what it was like to not be perfect.

Then I remembered. Jesus grew up. Jesus was perfect in the sense of never having broken fellowship with the Father, He never sinned. But he was not perfect in that He never made any grammatical or spelling mistakes as He was learning language. He did not suddenly know how to do carpentry. He learned from Joseph, in the workshop, or on the job. He had to learn, and undoubtedly made mistakes. Jesus Christ knows what it is like to not know things and to learn.

This gives me hope. We have a God who has walked a mile in our shoes. He knows what it is to learn and to grow. His growth sanctifies my growth. I can give myself the grace to grow and be in process.

Jesus birth, which we celebrate at Christmas, gives me grace for growth.

The Advent of Perspective

I love optical illusions.

I particularly enjoy them when I'm not expecting them. I like that moment of wonder and surprise when you find that the thing you were looking at is actually something else entirely. The moment when you suddenly see something that was there all along, but you never saw it before. It's a question of perspective.

The birth of Jesus was nothing of consequence from the perspective of the Roman Empire. Another Jewish boy born far from Rome, in an inconsequential corner of an unimportant province. Neither his mother, nor his father were anyone important. Another Jewish boy born to Judean peasants who paid very little in taxes and who would never trouble the might of Rome. Little did Rome know that this baby boy would change everything.

The birth of Jesus was a political threat to Herod. He saw a potential rival for the throne. Someone whom his enemies could use to displace him. A rallying point for the rabble, always looking for a messiah to rally around, someone to lead them against him and his Roman allies. Little did Herod know that this little boy was no threat to his throne. He wasn't born to assume political power or lead a violent revolution. He was a revolutionary, but He was after men's souls not their thrones.

The birth of Jesus was announced in the stars to those who knew where to look. Astrologers from the East searching the stars for answers had seen something that caught their eye. They set out on a quest to see for themselves this thing they had traced on their charts. Having met the baby born in a stable, they fell down and worshipped this unlikely King. They recognized what others had missed. It's difficult to say how much they understood, but they laid their treasures at His feet. 

What do you see when you look at Jesus? Is he of no consequence, someone not even worthy of your notice or attention? Is He a threat to you, someone you fear? Or, is He your King, worthy of your love, adoration, and worship?