The cross and the manger

This cross is to be given to Presleigh's teacher tomorrow for Christmas. When I showed it to Presleigh for approval, she said it wasn't very "christmassy." I began to second guess my gift. Should I save this for Easter? Should I have made something entirely different or perhaps bought something? We did contribute to a gift card for the class gift..but always need to have a personal touch to our gift-giving. Back to my dilemma...then the Lord put something on my heart that I would like to share with you jut a few days before we celebrate our Savior's birth.

"For God so loved the world...that he gave his one and only Son." Jesus came in the lowliest form..a baby born to a poor, lonely family...no room for them, no room for him. The manger filled with hay was the place that Jesus would first encounter humanity. If you have ever sat on a hay bale, gone for a hay ride or even fed horses hay, you know that ..It is prickly... It can poke, rub, give rashes to those with sensitive skin(imagine the skin of a baby)...It can cause you to sneeze, can get caught in your hair... It is felt through clothes and just to put it simply--It is annoying and uncomfortable. It is not down feathers,nor sheep skin. And most definitely not the way deity, nor royalty should be received.

God loved us so deeply, the world so deeply that the gift was not just the cross. Have you thought that without the gift of the manger, there would not be the gift of the cross. The two represent God's complete love for us. It was not just in the death and resurrection that he loved us..It is in the birth of Jesus Christ that he began his redemptive plan and it is in the cross that his love and forgiveness was made complete.

To use Presleigh's word...this cross is very "Christmassy." Blessings to all and may the peace of Jesus Christ dwell in you this holiday season....