the night before christmas

it was the night before christmas
and all through the world
everything looked like business as usual

shepherds sat on a hillside
looking up at the stars
while the world fell asleep
unaware just how deep
was the darkness the night before christmas

and the night before christmas

seemed to be just a night

but the wind blew like something was coming

and like children with secrets

that they're bursting to tell

the cedars danced in the breeze

while all of nature, it seemed

held its breath

on the night before christmas

and Hope

Hope long awaited

the Hope of the ages

would break with the dawn

and the song that all of creation

was anticipating

would start with a baby's first cry

and on the night before Christmas

Mary lay down her head

and Joseph, he paced the floor

praying

in an everyday stable

in an everyday town

in the hours to come

God would wrap Himself up

and come down from heaven

and the world would forever be changed

after the night before christmas

"the night before christmas"

Steven Curtis Chapman

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i imagine the shepherds sitting there.

they had just finished their head-count of the sheep

tired and cold, they sat on a nearby cluster of rocks

and hoped maybe tonight would bring an adventure of some kind

something to break up the monotony of the night

i wonder if the breeze whispered strangely

i wonder if the sky looked different

or if the leaves were rattling in the wind

like they do just before a storm

i wonder if they had a feeling

that for some reason this night was significant.

somehow.

on the timeline of history

i wonder what they were talking about that evening

i can't help but wonder if they were devout Jewish boys

did they, deep down, believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob

did they know about the promised Messiah that Isaiah prophesied?

after 400 years of silence, did they truly believe in the God of their forefathers?

i can imagine that they did

once the angel appeared

and gave them

the lowly, outcast, poor shepherds

the opportunity to be the first to experience the most profound miracle

that ever was, and ever will be.

God, wrapping Himself in flesh

becoming a human.

[a newborn baby human]

so that He could reconcile the great chasm that sin created

between a holy God and a wretched humanity.

so that He could be the mediator, the redeemer, the Savior.

that He could lead a sinless life,

pouring Himself out in love and grace to all He met

to be killed on a cross, but raised to life three days later.

to ascend to Heaven so that He could send the Great Counselor

the Holy Spirit, to be our helper and our guide,

our very breath and sustenance.

to live. inside. us.

He did all this,

with the hope that we'd believe and accept and embrace

that He is the Word became flesh

that He is the Way the Truth and the Life...

knowing that some of us would never believe

or trust or hope in Him.

some of us would never know peace,

never allow His grace to cover us.

some of us would still mock and spit.

He did it anyway.

Because He so loved the world.