Christmas comes…
And we’re not ready;
The house is such a mess and the packages unwrapped.
The children’s lists are long, but Santa’s purse is not too strong,
And all my extra money has been tapped.
Christmas comes…
And I think of Mary,
Cold and on a donkey, nine months pregnant and unwed.
Poor Joseph, still confused, though suspicions were defused,
Worried over taxes and likely underfed.
Were they ready for this plan of God’s?
Were they even ready for a baby’s birth,
Much less prepared that He’d be
King of Heaven and of earth?
But, they just kept going, step by weary step,
Desperately hoping it would all come right.
When did they understand there was a miracle at hand,
Much later in a stable on that night?
Mary wrapped her baby in a bundle made of rags,
Mary laid her baby in a manger full of hay.
Joseph watching near, so protective, full of fear –
Yet a barn turned out sufficient for the day.
And, yes, the angels sang,
And the shepherds were amazed,
And those Wise Men finally made it from afar.
And, the Bible speaks of prophets and their prophecies fulfilled,
And, of course, there was that bright, enormous star.
But, that tiny little family were poor and simple folk,
Kinda like my family and me.
When life’s a little rough and there’s often not enough,
Miracles are sometimes hard to see.
But, Christmas comes…
And we’ll do the best we can.
I’ll tidy up, and we will get the presents in their wraps.
We’re kinda short on “glory,” but we’ll read the Christmas story
With the youngest children cuddled in our laps.
Once their tired little heads are on pillows in their beds,
We’ll hold each other close and wonder why
God chose to save the earth through a tiny baby’s birth
To ensure that we’d be with Him by and by…
As Christmas comes.
Blessings from Q.O.E.