Small Baby, Big God

What would your nativity look like? Mine would look like the East General Hospital in Toronto, Ontario. Babies in the 50s in Toronto would have been born in hospitals and attended by nurses and doctors in a nice clean sterile operating room.

Each of our births is something to be celebrated. I love telling my daughters about the day they were born – the hospital, the weather, their dad, and some interesting details of that day and what a joy they were to me.What would your nativity look like? Mine would look like the East General Hospital in Toronto, Ontario. Babies in the 50s in Toronto would have been born in hospitals and attended by nurses and doctors in a nice clean sterile operating room.

In Jesus’ day, many births would have been attended by women, maybe a relative or a midwife. But that was not the case with Jesus. His mother was far away from her family. The very young Mary and her young husband were visiting Bethlehem during a time of a census when lots of other people were there to be counted and they could not find a room. And so the nativity of Jesus, God in the flesh, took place in a manger in a barn. Quite a beginning.

As Christians, many of us display a nativity in our homes to remember that day, that birth.

I love nativities. The one shown here is my favourite and least elaborate and I leave it out year-round. It is just 4 inches tall. The small size reminds me that God came to earth as a small baby. God as a baby!

My little nativity is a small reminder of a big God – our God, maker of heaven and earth came back to earth in the form of a baby! He even spent nine months in the womb! For us.

For a while, he was God living as a man on earth. He was fully human and so he knows what it’s like to be us. He is not some distant God as some might think, sitting on his throne in heaven, throwing his weight around, lording over us.

And he’s not an idea. He’s a person. God and Jesus are one and the same. It’s a big concept and yet a simple birth.

Being a Christian isn’t easy. It can be complicated, and hard to understand. That is why I love my little nativity. It is the easiest part of the Christian faith – the birth of the baby Jesus.

If you are finding it difficult to embrace the entire concept of a Christian faith, then maybe you should start with something simple – like the nativity.

God made it simple for a reason. He knew we needed that.

What about you? Where do you stand about the birth of Jesus? Take baby steps just like Jesus did. Get to know God one step at a time.

May this Christmas season and the birth of Jesus Christ bring new hope to you. No matter who you are or what you are going through, Jesus came for you! He came to bring hope – to you!