Hope & Fraility

"The Word became flesh and dwelt among us."  John 1:14

Have you ever wondered, REALLY wondered, how dicey that decision was?  Forget for a moment the whole omnipotent, omniscient aspect of God.  Forget that in his sovereignity all of his plans will work out ever how he originally planned it.  For reasons only God truly understands (and he graciously empowers us to see dimly), he choose to send his only son and his only son agreed to cast off all of his divinity, power, etc. and take on human flesh.

He did not take on the flesh of a grown man, fit and strong to defend himself.  He started all the way back to square 1, or should I say cell 1.  He took on the risk of surviving real live human pregnancy and child birth.  He took on the risk of his parents not being able to defend him or escape with him when Herod ordered all the male babies to be executed.  And yet the angels sang of good news of great joy at the birth of a savior.  This baby was the hope of all creation.

Christmas is the beginning of a season of hope.  The celebration of Christ's birth was moved to December to celebrate the lengthening of the day, when the sun's growing power obliterates winter.  We sing songs about snow before Christmas but almost never AFTER Christmas because hope has come.  In The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the Narnians lament that it is always winter but never Christmas.

So, can we place our hope in such frail a plan?  It's kinda easy to do, on this side of history.  We know the ending.  The baby grows up and after having lived a perfect life becomes a perfect sacrifice, giving us the hope of the forgiveness of our sins.  After dying a cruel death, he rose from the grave giving us the hope of eternal life.  And it all began in the fraility of divinely initiated human conception, a full term pregnancy, and natural childbirth.

In this season of hope, our lives, dreams, and problems are frail in comparison to even the slightest aspect of God.  Even our faith is tenuous and frail because it is just as easy to choose to unbelieve as it is to believe.  And yet we've seen that God can use the weakest of human frailities to accomplish his plan.  I wonder what he wants to do with yours and mine?