12.16.08

Read Luke 2:8-20

It is 3:12 in the AM & I’ve been up with my baby for the past hour. My wife was up with him prior to that and he just can’t get back to sleep. We’re not the type to adhere to any strict school of parenting. I tried rocking him to sleep for a good long while. He’d be asleep (or so I thought) and after I’d lay him down he’d stand up & start to cry. After this happened for the 4th or 5th time, I decided to let him cry himself to sleep. Making this choice doesn’t really help me in the sleep department. I’m worried about him so I sit in the next room listening (and now typing) and praying he can fall asleep.

I imagine in some small way this is a picture of how the Father relates to us. My son has no idea that I’m here keeping an ear on him and wishing him well. I’m sure he feels abandoned. It makes me sad to think that he may think I’ve abandoned him. When I relate this to my picture of the heavenly Father it gives me a sense of hope, peace, and joy.
God has never abandoned us –despite our feeling to the contrary. Scholars tell us that some four hundred years passed between the last prophet of Israel and the birth of Christ. We are told in scripture that on the night our Lord was born angels appeared to shepherds with a message of great joy. The Christ is born! The Savior of the world! God was unfolding his elaborate mystery. I imagine four hundred years could create a very real sense of abandonment, but the people of God are never alone; the Father is always with us. This season we celebrate the birth of our Lord; a most joyous event. But even now, I’m sure there are some of us who are feeling abandoned. This Christmas as we spiral in economic woe consider the joy of the Father which burst from heaven in the songs of angels. Our Father is with us and His Son, our savior, is born.