This year, our church created Bethlehem in our gym. It's really neat.. there are shops and smells and authentic food. You walk in and have to pay taxes. There is a breadmaker, a woodcarver, a temple, a school, a potter, an apothecary.. It really is just like a village of Bethlehem.
And with Bethlehem, comes Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus. Somehow I became the one to be Mary.. so I just went with it. Well, even though I begged and pleaded, no one seemed willing to give me their small child to be a real baby Jesus outside the past two nights. Understandable, it was arctic freezing temperatures out there.
So, for the past two nights, I have been the Virgin Mary outside with a Joseph and a baby doll playing Jesus. Don't worry, the baby doll has done a fantastic job. There are also real animals outside (read: for any child younger than 25, a petting zoo). This drastically limits the amount of people who actually want to see Mary and Joseph and baby Jesus. Granted, the kids always get a little disappointed when they realize He is a baby doll and not a real baby. The parents just smile sympathetically and ask if we are warm. Um, it's 27 degrees outside and we are all from Mississippi.. of course we are not warm. But thanks for asking.
Last night, about halfway through our three hour stint outside, a family with two girls comes outside. They beeline it to the animals and pet the donkey (whose name is Caroline) and feed the cow. The older girl makes her way into the stable with her mom close behind her. This sweet girl had some type of physical and mental disability.. it was evident in her gait and her speech. But when her mom asked her if she knew who the baby in my arms was.. y'all, get ready for this...
.. she fell to her knees in front of the manger
Fell to her knees in a reverent form of worship for this baby doll baby Jesus.
Her mom nodded in praise and her daughter pulled her mom down to her knees with her. They stayed like that for a few seconds then the little girl stood up and came over and petted baby Jesus's head. (ha!)
But this is what I will remember from that... when she realized who that baby was, she IMMEDIATELY fell to her knees to worship Him.
How quickly do we rush past the nativity scene because we have seen it so often? Even in the past two nights of having the blessing of being Virgin Mary.. I can only imagine what it truly must have been like for her to hold Jesus as shepherds and Wise Men, alike, came to see and worship the baby. The words "and Mary pondered all those things in her heart" gained a new meaning for me that last two days.
I pray this Christmas season that we pause long enough to fall on our knees in front of the Lord Jesus who is ever worthy of our praise and our very lives.
