It's that time of year to be contemplative, and giving, and excited, and all that jazz.
It's the time of year when you can, if you'd like, be completely floored by the mercy that God showed to humanity.
After spending a significant amount of time with babies and toddlers this week, I've gotten a new appreciation for the fact that Jesus had to come to earth as a baby. I mean seriously, being God and having to deal with spit, drool, and gas bubbles... I wonder if He ever looked back and said 'ew'. Maybe it's just me being superficial, but that's pretty impressive. And even passing the baby stage... God learning how to talk, how to interact with people, having to go through puberty, growth spurts, and awkwardness. That's a lot of love right there, people.
I've discovered, since coming back to Washington, that a lot of my friends and family live in a secluded Christian world, where evolutionists, atheists, and agnostics are either frowned on, or even openly mocked in the Christian home. That's wrong. No way around that, sorry. Jesus came to earth not for the healthy, but for the sick. He wasn't simplistic, happy go lucky, or an ignorer of the facts of human nature. He hung out with the outcasts of society, He understood their struggles. He loved on them, but He also told them the truth in love, not condemnation (well, except the pharisees... but they're kind of a special case). Come to find out, that's a super delicate balance to keep. I don't know many people who are willing or capable of doing both.
I guess it just hit me hard the other day when someone went on a lecture about judgement and damnation, and I had to remind them that atheists are people too, and sometimes... no, all the time... mercy and love are what we should display. Who are we to judge? We are saved by the grace of God and absolutely nothing else. Not to say we should condone, but neither are we to condemn.
Still trying to figure out what that looks like.
But thank you Jesus, for being human for me and all the people who love you, and even for the ones who don't. Whether they feel it or not, your mercy is an overwhelming and beautiful thing, and is my prayer that some of my dearest friends would feel that love somehow, someway, this Christmas.
