A Christmas prayer

Jesus, what was that first Christmas like for You? What did the court of heaven behold in the moments before You became a man? Were the angels silent as You rose from your throne and let your kingly robe fall from Your shoulders? Did any of them try to stop You? Try to convince You that we weren’t worth it, and that we didn’t deserve it? Did You and the Father exchange one last knowing look, filled with both sorrow and joy?

What was it like for You, the Almighty Creator, to suddenly contain Your divine essence to a microscopic clump of cells within the womb of a young girl? To trade the endless praise of seraphim for the soft, steady beat of her heart and the muffled sound of her voice? What was it like to wait there…to just wait…for nine long months until Your appointed time?

How did it feel to enter the world that You spoke into existence? To experience the sharp chill of the night air, the roughness of the straw, the ache of hunger? What was it like, as the Most High God, to suddenly have the need to breathe, and blink, and sleep? What happened in the Father’s heart just then – when He looked down and saw You helpless in Mary’s arms, and knew what was yet to come?

Jesus, what was it like to willingly become the sacrificial Lamb of God in order to save us…to save me? What did it feel like to hear the Father say, “No,” when You knelt in the garden and asked to be saved from the cross? What passed through Your mind when You thought the anguish was at it’s worst, and then Your Father began to turn His face? What took more strength – the struggle to breathe, or the gut-wrenching determination to complete what You had started? Did my face flash through Your mind as You suffered? Did my sin?

What did it look like, sound like, feel like on the day that Heaven’s Treasure returned home? How loud was the deafening roar of “Worthy”? When You sat down at the right hand of the Father, did His eyes drift to the scars on Your hands? Did He echo Your cry of, “It is finished”?

I can’t begin to comprehend what happened from Your vantage point, and I can’t begin to express what happened from mine. There are no words in all the languages of the earth to adequately praise You. I can only hope that heaven’s native tongue will someday suffice. You are the Joy in my heart, the Hope in my eyes, the Life in my soul. Thank You…forever thank You…for Christmas.