I got a feeling that my eldest girl has a special link with the First Noel. I didn’t realise it until this evening after what she made for her sister on her 7th birthday.
Last Christmas she sang the hymn for our children church. She memorised the whole 5 chapters. Then during her poetry class, she made herself a poem titled the First Noel. I need to dig that up. She came out that by herself, quite telling for a girl at her age.
And now she made the whole Nativity scene with baby Jesus, Mary, and Joseph in the stable, using polymer clay, old cardboard, and some paints. She even made a light on the stable.
The thought came to me, Jesus’ birth in a manger speaks about accessibility. How accessible God made it that even a little child could make using everyday things. The simple stable out of cardboard, shreded papers to make for the hay, and simple figurines using clay with color. The tapes, the messy and dirty stuff all around. There’s no beauty, perfection, or cleanliness found in shops or hospital, but a simple, humble, manger scene.
God doesn’t mind all the mess and dirts that even a little child could reach without fear of failing. He makes it safe enough for a little child to come just as she is. Think about the thought and love behind it, that He came all the way and make it possible.
If I want my little child to come to me, I’ve to strip away all the formalities and ‘protocols’ and come to the level that a little child feel secure and confident. They need to know that as they come, they would not be shouted at, or scolded, of breaking anything or stepping or saying at wrong things. I’m the one that need to get rid of everything, in order for her to come to me as she is. And that’s what God Almighty prepared to do and had done it for you and me. He let go everything so that we have the access to Him.
The First Noel, the angels tell. A baby was born in a manger. God became man, So that we could come near. The First Noel, Jesus came as baby. Letting go of everything. So that we could come as we are. The humble birth, the common place. He opens it all from the start. All mankind could approach him. No make ups, no masks. No pretense, no doubts. Fully free, full of grace. Just come as you are.