The Third Carol of Christmas

              My brother Jedidiah has the cutest Christmas ornaments in the house, I think. The squirrel above is a specimen. I'm not quite sure how he managed to end up with all the furry, fluffy, creatures on the Christmas tree. Perhaps the same way I ended up with most of the elegant, lacy, blown  grass decorations. Anyhow, back to the whole business of cuteness, I've often wondered what are the elements that make something cute, and why is it that we, when we see something of that sort feel the irrepressible desire to hug, squeeze, and make high pitched noises?

             Did you know that the Eskimos even have a special word for something that is so cute that you want to squeeze it?

             Well, for a while, I will say that while babies are generally squeezebly cute, I had a hard time picturing Jesus as being cute as a baby. I guess the whole idea of Him being cute felt starkly irreverent. I suppose, had I considered the alternative, that might have put things into perspective: Was He an ugly baby?
              
             As the fact stands, I'm sure Jesus was your average baby, small, soft, and, well yes, cute. :)
            And yet, here comes the irony. Usually, the baby is the needy one. The mother, and friends, and older siblings all pour into it from their abundance. Yet with Christ, while He as a human babe was physically helpless, He yet held within His tiny existence salvation for all the able bodied Shepherds who came to bow down before Him. He brought redemption for the rich magi who gave to Him of their greatest treasures.

           In fact, all humanity's hope for life and the future, lay in that cradle when Jesus was a baby. All of us who have ever lived, before and after Christ, revolve around that manger so long ago.
          What have we to offer Him? Nothing but our love, our adoration, our whole hearts. He has come to fulfill our deepest longings, for all true satisfaction lies in Christ, in that baby in the manger.

           This brings me to our carol for today, a contemporary piece I heard a couple years ago; My Lord Has Come. 


               
          There is no place for us this Christmas but a stable where a child has been born to bring light into a dark world. Let us rejoice, our Lord has come.


          ~ Christianna