I sit in the emergency room and wring my hands while looking at the anguish written across my youngest child’s face. Right here in the middle of Christmas when it’s my own child in pain, the brokenness of the world is not just a metaphor. I should have been there to catch his fall. It feels like the worst kind of failure and a jarring interruption to my well-laid parenting plans.
It looks to be broken in two places and surgery may be a necessary step. No, please God. They ask him what color splint he wants, and he asks for bright red. It is Christmas after all. But later he explains calmly, “I chose red for the blood of Jesus.” I am comforted by the reasoning of this little soul. I let my anxieties be quelled by the grace of heaven flooding my heart with this reminder of the precious blood already alive and at work in my child. Emmanuel, God-with-us.
Jesus came, took flesh and blood to be our Emmanuel, God-with-us. This is no small paradox.
Creator God in all his inexplicable power chose to come into the brokenness of our world to be with us. He came in complete vulnerable, tender love – laid in straw with barely a roof, warmed by animals. In the infant Jesus we see God’s universal truth – self-emptying love and tender vulnerability are the way of the kingdom. We pray for this in every “Our Father.” In our broken moments here in the middle of Christmas we have the opportunity to follow this infant king…even through the things breaking our hearts. Because of Emmanuel, I am cradled in the midst of despair – the fear of pain and the grip of failure are swaddled in grace. Jesus brought the power of heaven – the word became flesh, and his body and his blood are no small thing. He came to be our salvation and he never stops coming to be with us.
Press into the truths of renewed hope, princely peace, unearthly joy, and a love that this world can never give nor take away. Follow the infant Jesus with me – make his presence known.
“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6)
Thank you for your reflections—they give me food for thought this morning. I am touched and given a beautiful example in your son’s reason for choosing red. I hope the arm heals stronger than ever.