Easily Excitable

How strange that 

the most extraordinary gift to humanity 

could not have been born to 

more ordinary 

circumstances. 

In fact, one might say it was

 less 

than ordinary. 

A teenager for a mom and a stable for a home,

Livestock for an audience and hay for a mattress,

A manger for a bed. 

As we think upon Christmas, let this be our thought: 

You didn’t choose the great- 

That which was magnificent in its own right. 

Your bench is filled with the worst of these, 

And lest I forget- let me remember

I am chief among them. 

You chose the losers, 

The scrubs, 

The dirty and the damaged,

The broken and the bitter,

The liars and the lost,

The prostitutes and the perverse. 

In short? 

You chose the ones 

The world kicks to the curb. 

So, You chose the ordinary life

But, also, kind of less than. 

And You chose the ordinary people, 

But, also, kind of less than. 

But if You can take a manger and make it holy, 

What might you do with those who bear Your image? 

And if You would store Your most precious gift in a barn, 

What might You do when Your Spirit is stored in us? 

And if You could light up the sky with a star for Your son, 

How might you light up a world with those who’ve been bought with His blood?

This is the beauty of Emmanuel: God with us. 

Jesus Christ: Light of the World, given for us. 

The only One who could take our punishment, 

And 

The only One who did. 

We- unlovable and undeserving,

Wretched and vile.

We- imperfect, immoral, 

Embarrassing- and yet

Emmanuel came to the rescue of His Image-bearers-

Came to immerse us in His love.

He came to give us love unbreakable, 

Peace unshakable, 

And joy untakable. 

The world didn’t give it- 

And the world can’t take it away.  

God with us. 

That He loved the unlovable. 

That He took the first step toward us. 

That He believed His creation must be saved. 

And for this ransom? 

He gave the most He could give: 

Emmanuel: God with us.