While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son.  She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.                             Luke 2:6-7

My daughter is pretty impressive with a bow and arrow.  We have a big target that we move around the front yard to shoot arrows into.  It’s really pretty cool, and it’s actually quite fun, a good workout too.  If I stand in my front yard and attempt to hit the target, I can hit it most times.

But what if I didn’t know exactly where the target was.  What if my daughter put out the target and shielded my eyes and said, “now hit the bull’s eye.”  How often might I hit it, you think?  The target could be anywhere- in front of me, behind me, anywhere.  My chances of getting it in that circle aren’t very good if I don’t know where to aim.

I think many of us don’t know where to aim when it comes to Christmas.  The world and many of our pasts and traditions and family plans, they can all distort the vision.  I want desperately to ‘get it’ this Christmas, but with all the possibilities, all the options, all the favorites and must-see’s, what exactly is the ‘it’ that I want to get?

The Bible really says so very little of our Lord’s birth.  Amazingly little, but I’ll come back to this another day.  The verses that are there have been repeated for many of us so often that they almost seem trite, overdone, like lines in a play rather than realities pertaining to me and my life.

The God of all Creation, the Maker of Heaven and Earth came to earth in the form of His own creation.  Unprecedented things occurred; angels appeared to both individuals and groups, skies were alight with multitudes that praised God and spread word of His plan being played out among men.  Our God condescended, He came near.  The plan of salvation entered the human realm and began to play itself out amid those who would benefit from it.  Prophesy was fulfilled.  This is a big deal.

Christmas is more than gifts and decorations, though they play a part in it.  It is more than lights and gathering, traditions and music.  So often those things are considered the root, when they are but the offshoots, the outer workings of an inner reality, a deeper truth beneath the facade.  Those are the trappings, the ribbon that adorns the actual gift, not the gift itself.

What then is the gift?  What is the target at which I now aim?  I can shoot in the dark this season and pray for the best, pray that somehow my attempts to truly grasp the enormity of this occasion will find their mark.  Or I can aim more wisely.  I can find the target first, and aim thereafter.

It’s all about the baby.  It’s found there in a cave.  It’s in the wonder and awe, the humility, the ramifications, the sacrifice, the truth and beauty of these solemn moments.  I have more than a dozen manger scenes all over my house.  I’d imagine you do too.  Stop and really look at it.  Stare at that baby.  Picture yourself in the room.  Smell it.  Shiver in the coolness of the night.  Picture Mary, so humble and modest.  Imagine how it is she made it through the night.  See Joseph, not knowing how on earth to help.  Did he stay by her and hold her hand?  Did he stand outside, giving her the privacy in the intimate moment he had never broached with her before?  Did they cry in disappointment that they couldn’t do any better for this Immaculate child?  Did they feel excitement or was it fear and dismay?  It was real to them.  He was real.  That baby she birthed, that child they couldn’t manage to find a bed for, that infant in a trough was, without question or doubt, the God of the Universe.  Imagine yourself as His mom and try to swallow.

This Child changed everything.  When God comes in, He changes everything.  It was true that night.  It is true today.

Don’t let me miss the target, Lord.  Don’t let me ogle over the wrapping paper while dismissing the gift.  Don’t let me praise the mud pies of this incredible season, while unaware of the feast that is offered me here.  May the spirit of this season, the very heart and meaning and power of what has happened find its way into my soul and permeate every part of who I am, how and why I celebrate, what I deem worthy of my time and attention, how I treat others, what holds prominence in my life.  Narrow my focus, Lord, to the true and eternal target of my attention.