When I about 6 years old, I got a coat for Christmas from my Grammy. Now normally, my Grammy killed it in the gift department but that year, not so much.
My momma told her I needed a coat and you would think that, knowing my aspirations to be Miss America, Grammy would have picked something a little more girlie. However, I got this lovely little John Denver number.
It really didn’t help that my two older cousins got cassette tape players for Christmas. (Any young people reading this just opened a new tab and googled “cassette tape player”😂) Of course we all played with the players but they wouldn’t let me push the play and record buttons so that I was really in charge. All I could do was sing along…
I really hated that coat but I need it. We had a tremendously cold winter that year and I would have frozen without it. I didn’t want it, but it was just what I needed.
I have several friends expecting babies in the spring.
Some of them were “planned” some of them, not so much. I say “planned” because all of the planning in the world won’t change God’s plan for our lives.
Anyway, I was talking to one of those moms when this idea of unwanted or unexpected came to me and how clear the difference between the two perspectives is. I myself have a kid that was unexpected until about 8 1/2 months before he got here. He wasn’t unwanted but he was unexpected and he is one of the greatest gifts I have ever been given.
All of that made me think of another mom who had an unexpected pregnancy. (Notice my mind is a little random…it’s like live streaming Ellen DeGeneres in my head.)
Anyway, it made me think of Mary. Like Jesus’s momma, Mary. Can you imagine that poor girl? We know he was unexpected since she was a virgin, but I have to wonder if, for a minute, Jesus was unwanted. Maybe that was the first time someone rejected the idea of Jesus…his own momma. She obviously got her head wrapped around it because the Bible says in Luke that after Jesus was born and the shepherds came “Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” She held onto those sweet memories and thought about them.
But for the rest of the world, even after he got here, it really wasn’t much better because he wasn’t what the people expected. They were expecting a military presence. A king. A warrior. A government leader. They didn’t get what they were expecting.
Maybe unwanted, maybe unexpected but just what we need.
“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
Really look at the description…isn’t that just what the world needs. Maybe unwanted, maybe unexpected but what we need.
My prayer for today: Lord I thank you for your abundant blessing on me. I thank you for my family and friends and for the person who is reading this post. I pray that over the hustle and bustle of the next few days, you will help me to keep you in my sight and in clear focus. I thank you for your son Jesus who is truly the greatest gift even given. Amen
Merry Christmas to all. Be blessed.
