Christmas Miracles

 I sat at the church Christmas party and gazed at the face of the little baby sitting next to me. He was hanging out restfully on the lap of a lady who has no children. I was witnessing a miracle. This child has faced death since before he was born. His parents found out while he was still in the womb that his heart was broken. He would face surgeries, endless doctors appointments, and years of medical intervention - all with the hope of his living his one little life well. His smile broke through my own heart. My own heart that had been carrying sad-weight all day: impending death, everything change, the predictable being turned upside down. I looked around the room: the woman who can't have children, the baby whose every beat is a miracle, the lady who is facing her parents' declining health, and me who was everything un-Christmas joy that day. I stared up at the tree. And don't we all have broken hearts that need mending? 
 Christmas miracles - Jesus miracles - aren't just for those who need money, a medical healing, a renewal of hope, a relationship healed...no, every one of us is in need of a Savior who will step into our mess and give us redemption. Every soul is carrying around a certain weight: doubt, fear, uncertainty, pain, shame, suffering, bitterness, rejection...and so our hearts form cracks, broken-places that need mending. That baby signifies what we only feel in the emotional. And still, the message somehow still speaks that God isn't done with us all yet. I take in the twinkling lights and breath deep, while feeling the thaw in my soul-spirit of that little baby's smile. A smile that says that life is still going on even though all is not right. That with every heart-beat, God is still sustaining this fallen world. Sustaining us. 
 When you think about it, every one of us is a Christmas miracle...because the God who stepped into human time and place set forth a redeeming plan to rescue your soul! Your one broken heart!! God became man, while never setting aside His Godhead, so that you could have a reason for all your hurting. So that our pain would never be wasted in this world. So that we could be healed by love. So that all our living would matter and we could be saved. 
 I feel the other heavy-hearts in the room, even as we set aside our difficulties to eat, celebrate, and converse. I know our shared suffering is there. My church has had a hard year. And yet, the message of God's Son come down and later risen to glory is what has kept us believing. Kept all of us saying "yes" to Him when everything inside has screamed "no." And so laugh...we trust...we thank. Because His promise of re-making all of us, of healing us, is still going on. And all our struggles are mere birthing pains to a greater purpose He has in mind. 
 The baby looks over towards me and flashes his precious little grin. I stroke his tiny hand and think: God was once like this little child - because He loved us! Tears fill my eyes and I bless God that He's still using children, even one with a broken heart, to teach me what really matters in this life. May my eyes be open, my heart be broken, my soul believe so that the miracle of Jesus might, once again, be born inside of me! That his broken heart may keep on praising, even when the days are hard. Because His miracle is for all the year...for all of time...and not just at Christmas! 

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