From Michelle. 23 December, 2011.
Dear friends and family,
A friend of mine, a midwife, delivered a baby in a humble home last week. I have been thinking a lot about that birth. It was not miraculous, nor was it the woman’s first child. But it was a humble birth, in a single room dwelling in what many might call a slum area, but what is really a fairly normal living arrangement for many Filipinos. The images of that birth have haunted me this week because they bring into focus the circumstances of God’s birth among us.
Over the years, we have romanticized the tableau of the birth, decorating it with stars and surrounding it with holy visitors. The sheep and the donkey do not smell. The manger is clean, with plenty of fresh hay in it. The virgin Mary is well clothed and beautiful. But surely, it did not quite look like that. Surely, it was dirty. Surely, there was not enough food. Surely, Mary was weary with travel, and then with labor. And yet, God was there.
For me, this week, the baby in the barrio and the baby in the manger highlight my blindness to the miraculous in the midst of the ordinary. While briefly there was a heavenly host leaving us no doubt as to the significance of the babe, mostly there was just a babe, and then a boy growing up in humble circumstances. And yet he was God walking among us.
Looking at my Christmas week, there is much that is ordinary. There is traffic and errands. There is sickness and struggle. There is even a funeral service. But somewhere in the dirt, there lies a glorious truth, a light for all to see, a love burning bright in the darkness. I squint my eyes and try to catch a glimpse of it through the ordinary hours.
It is the mystery of the birth, that God chose the ordinary to do the extraordinary. He does it still today: For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 2 Corinthians 4:6-7
So, friends, may we find in our own hearts the glory of God this Christmas, and may we see in each other the treasure, hidden in the ordinary.
Merry Christmas.
With love from all of us to all of you,
The Ruetschles
