Our family has always enjoyed
a Christmas tradition of setting out a ceramic nativity scene complete with
wise men, camels, shepherds, sheep, and, of course, Mary, Joseph, and baby
Jesus. Each season the nativity scene was the same.
One year when my children
were young, I carefully unwrapped each piece and set up an artistic display
representing the first Christmas. The children gathered around to watch. We
talked about the birth of Jesus and the visit of the shepherds and Magi. Then I
cautioned the children, as always, not to touch the pieces, explaining that
they were fragile and easily broken.
This year, however, the
temptation was too great for my two-year-old daughter, Elizabeth. The day we
set up the nativity scene, I noticed several times, with some irritation, that
a camel had wandered from its appointed place or a sheep had strayed from the
watchful care of the shepherd. Each time, I returned the piece to its rightful
place, then tracked down the culprit and admonished her to leave things alone.
The next morning, Elizabeth
awoke and went downstairs before I did. When I walked into the living room, I
noticed right away that the manger scene had been disturbed again. All the
pieces were clumped together in a mass, as tightly as they could be fitted
together. Impatiently, I stepped forward to put things right; but I stopped
short as I realized that some thought had gone into this new arrangement. All
twenty-three figures were grouped in a circle, facing inward, pushed together
as if to get the best view possible of the figure resting in the center of them
all - the baby Jesus.
The
spirit touched my soul as I pondered the insight of a two-year-old. Certainly,
Christ should be the center of our holiday celebrations. If we all could draw
in around our Savior, not only during the Christmas season, but during each day
what a better perspective we would have. The love he offers to each of us would
be easily shared with others who have not ventured so close. I left the
nativity arranged according to Elizabeth’s design that year. It served as a
poignant reminder during the rest of the season of what Christmas is all about.
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