Glimpsing God’s Glory Makes Christmas Worth It

A few months ago, my little pink bundle gasped in her first breath and screamed her first cry. With a warm blanket wrapped around us both, I patted her womb-wet hair and shoulders and murmured comfort to her as she laid her head upon my chest. I breathed in my beautiful fresh-birthed baby, and I saw her open her eyes to gaze at her daddy and me.

With the scent of baby awash in my heart this Christmas, I peer into the manger with new-mommy, sleep-deprived eyes. I see that soft-cheeked infant in the manger, fresh from the womb of his mother, Mary, and he’s opened His eyes to look upon His creation…his mother, her husband Joseph, camels and donkeys and cattle, shepherds and sheep.

My heart startles me these December days with unfounded fears that overwhelm and even disable me. All of my what-ifs topple good rationale, and I haunt the house when I should be sleeping, simply to confirm that latches are latched, locks are locked, and children breathe easy in their beds. It’s not just my eyes that are heavy this winter, for my anxious heart sifts worries, feeding schedules, and fevers, suddenly remembering I haven’t placed that Christmas gift order, and I guess we’ll just forgo mailing Christmas cards yet again this year.

Celebrating the Baby in the manger feels like just one more burden to add to my already full plate.

 

 

I’m at the kitchen sink, washing out yesterday’s coffee grounds to make a fresh early morning pot. I turn on the audio to listen to my Bible app as I begin to scramble the eggs. John is talking, telling me the things he has seen. I begin to see through his description the throne room, the rainbow, and the sea of glass. I hear rumblings and peals of thunder, and there are flashes of lightning. There are living creatures, and there are the twenty-four elders in their white garments, wearing their golden crowns, sitting on their own thrones.

And I can’t even wrap my mind around the One that John describes as seated on The Throne. The One whose glory is such that mortal man cannot look upon it and live. The One whose praise is echoed for eternity by the six-winged creatures, saying, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”

Filling heaven and filling my heart, their praise never ceases day and night, eternally. My spirit is moved, and so must be the souls of the twenty-four elders, for they cannot stay seated any longer. At the sound of the glory and honor and thanks from the mouths of the creatures, the elders can do nothing but fall down before Him who is seated on The Throne, saying, “Worthy are you, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”

And then I see the Lamb. The manger-baby is both Lamb and Lion, slain to redeem, and He has overcome.

The creatures and elders fall down before Him, and I hear their singing.

I hear something else….it’s angels. Many angels, myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, and they loudly proclaim the worth of the Lamb. The noise is deafening, for now every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them begin to praise the One on The Throne and the Lamb, while the living creatures shout, “Amen!” and the elders again fall off their thrones and worship.

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In the dark early morning, I feed my little girl. She drifts back to sleep, and I return to the kitchen to sip the coffee, scoop onto a plate the scrambled eggs, and order online another last-minute Christmas gift.

The kitchen is still a mess, the baby’s fever is high, and my plate is still full. But now, SO IS MY HEART.

As I glimpse the glory of the manger-child and barely begin to comprehend what He left behind when He emptied Himself to dwell among us, a sure and steady confidence begins to steal across my heart. I see the One high and exalted, lifted up and on His throne, and I am undone.

As I begin to clean off the counter to serve breakfast, I finger my preschooler’s manger-scene craft. I see in the messy glue and wooden pieces how Heaven emptied itself of the Son of God, displaying to the earth the glory of the Father in the only Begotten, the Lamb who laid Himself in the manger.

This meek and holy manger-lamb is worthy of my praise, worthy of my trust, and worthy of my worship. Glimpsing God’s glory makes Christmas worth it for this mama’s heart.

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Please join me in worship before The Throne this Christmas, coming boldly through the work accomplished by the manger-lamb, Jesus Christ. Spend a December morning with me in Revelation 4-5 and Isaiah 6, and may we proclaim with Isaiah, “I saw the Lord!”

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(If you’re looking for a simple manger-craft for a preschool Sunday School class or neighborhood cookie decorating party, you can find this little wooden nativity ornament kit here on Amazon.)
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