{"id":1923,"date":"2022-01-02T22:28:26","date_gmt":"2022-01-02T11:28:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/?p=1923"},"modified":"2022-01-02T22:29:13","modified_gmt":"2022-01-02T11:29:13","slug":"first-noel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/first-noel\/","title":{"rendered":"First Noel"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The thought came to me, Jesus’ birth in a manger speaks about accessibility<\/strong>. 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The First Noel, the angels tell.\nA baby was born in a manger.\nGod became man,\nSo that we could come near.\n\nThe First Noel, Jesus came as baby.\nLetting go of everything.\nSo that we could come as we are.\n\nThe humble birth, the common place.\nHe opens it all from the start.\nAll mankind could approach him.\n\nNo make ups, no masks.\nNo pretense, no doubts.\nFully free, full of grace.\nJust come as you are.<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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 … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,104,105,108,38,48,67,69],"tags":[395,397,125,126,132,181,204,211,350,396],"class_list":["post-1923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-encouraged","category-hope","category-humility","category-love","category-luke","category-poems","category-thankful","category-touched","tag-access","tag-approachability","tag-birth","tag-birthday","tag-children","tag-gods-love-2","tag-humility","tag-jesus","tag-mary","tag-openness"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":663,"url":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/the-always-told-story\/","url_meta":{"origin":1923,"position":0},"title":"The always told story","author":"clay","date":"October 18, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning, I can't remember how it came. But i know this what the Lord impressed on me. The scene where a woman, name Mary, pour out very expensive perfume, all..., on a man's, name Jesus, feet. Something that never crossed my mind before. And depth of the scene.... I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Humility"","block_context":{"text":"Humility","link":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/category\/virtues\/humility\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1833,"url":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/one-of-best-birthday-ever\/","url_meta":{"origin":1923,"position":1},"title":"One of best birthday ever","author":"clay","date":"November 13, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I wrote to someone that this year my wish is: \"More of Jesus, less of Me.\" Soon I find myself getting less, and I felt uneasy. Thank you Lord for showing me the need for transformation :) Deep down, I crave for importance and significant. I feel satisfaction from the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Humility"","block_context":{"text":"Humility","link":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/category\/virtues\/humility\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1723,"url":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/random-thoughts-unfinished-work\/","url_meta":{"origin":1923,"position":2},"title":"Random thoughts – unfinished work","author":"clay","date":"December 2, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Perhaps, one of the biggest lessons for me this year is on humility & meekness. I was asked what is my birthday wish? What do I want? I do have one wish which I always dream and I know it would take me eternity. That is to be like God.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Assured"","block_context":{"text":"Assured","link":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/category\/emotion\/assured\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1819,"url":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/promise-keeper\/","url_meta":{"origin":1923,"position":3},"title":"Promise Keeper","author":"clay","date":"October 16, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"We received quite a numbers of prayer requests from people. And going through the list, I started to draw similarities. Here is the grouping based on similarities that I observe: From a concerned parents (usually mothers) for their children and even grandchildren, secondly from a concerned husbands for the well-beings\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blessedness"","block_context":{"text":"Blessedness","link":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/category\/truth-vs-lies\/blessedness\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1381,"url":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/persistency-and-faith\/","url_meta":{"origin":1923,"position":4},"title":"Persistency and Faith","author":"clay","date":"March 2, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"When she was still a baby, we saw this persistent character in her. She would not be distracted nor satisfied with anything less than what she has set her eyes on. She would persist till she got what she wants. 2 days ago, she told me that she prayed 10\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Encouraged"","block_context":{"text":"Encouraged","link":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/category\/emotion\/encouraged\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1852,"url":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/a-servant-mindset\/","url_meta":{"origin":1923,"position":5},"title":"A Servant Mindset","author":"clay","date":"January 25, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cBe dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning,\u00a0like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him....\"\u00a0Luke 12:35-36 (NIV) This morning as I meditated on the verse above, and looking at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Comforted"","block_context":{"text":"Comforted","link":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/category\/emotion\/comforted\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1923"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1923\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1926,"href":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1923\/revisions\/1926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/potterdreams.com\/clay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}