A Wonder-Full Time of Year
(From Christmas 2020)
He learned how to flip the switch to turn on the train. Together we laid beside the Christmas tree and watched intently as the Polar Express made its way around the tree; round and round and round it chugged, whistling occasionally and the conductor calling for “Allll aboard!” His little eyes were full of wonder as any two-year-old’s might be.
She couldn’t take her eyes off the twinkling lights of the Christmas tree. The wonder showed through her six-month-old little body so still and focused, watching the colors change from bright white to red and then blue.
Observing the world through the lens of my grandchildren brings back that simple, childlike wonder. More marvellous than this gift, though, is pondering the miracle of Jesus’ birth.
Reading part of the Christmas story each morning, I sense the invitation to stop often. And wonder. I read just a few verses at a time. And I pause to wonder. I’m amazed at the precise timing of events that needed to line up in order for the prophecies to be fulfilled.
That Micah foretold Jesus’ birth 700 years before He was born, and he specified the tiny town; this makes me stop and wonder.
Mary and Joseph didn’t even live in Bethlehem; however, a census, the first-ever, “happened” to be instituted at just the right time, which would require them to travel from their hometown of Nazareth and would position them to be in Bethlehem on the exact day of his birth. At the precision of the timing and all those involved in bringing this prophecy to fulfillment, my mind is filled with wonder.
Astonishingly, many prophets in the Old Testament proclaimed Jesus’ lineage, that He would come from the line of Jesse, the father of King David. Reading through the record of Jesus’ ancestors, God divinely used murderers, prostitutes, the lowly, and those in power to bring about Jesus’ earthly birth. Wow, God! This is amazing. It makes me stop and wonder.
So, this Advent, I accept God’s bidding to slow down and wonder. I read and ponder with great anticipation of God’s quiet whispers of marvellous wonderment. Like a child, not understanding the mystery, yet, being so filled with a sense of awe, I watch and I wait. And am wonder-filled.
And all they that heard it wondered at those things… (Luke 2:18 KJV).