Losing Baby Jesus

I literally lost Baby Jesus a couple of days ago, early on Christmas Day. Life was a bit chaotic with our three children, some guests, an adult child home for the holidays, etc., and I woke up at 4:50 AM panicking because I hadn't filled the stockings! We don't "do Santa" here because Christmas is about Jesus, but we always have Christmas stockings on Christmas morning. If a child says something about Santa filling the stockings, we just smile and nod.

But I forgot to fill the stockings on Christmas Eve before I went to bed! So at 4:50 AM, my husband and I sneaked down the stairs and filled the stockings with candy and small toys. We breathed a sigh of relief as we slumped back into bed around 5:00 AM, glad we had beaten the kids in awakening.

My husband was soon breathing quietly, but my mind was racing ahead into the Christmas morning chaos of opening gifts and playing with new toys. Then, I remembered: I hadn't placed Baby Jesus in our manger!! Good grief! Here we were, trying to place emphasis on Jesus at Christmas, and I forgot to put Baby Jesus into our Giving Manger (for details, see my blog post here). I crept down the steps again, wincing at every squeak and creak. I went to my "office," really just a small nook in the kitchen, and looked where I thought I had put The Giving Manger box containing Baby Jesus.

Nope. Not there.

I looked on the windowsill, the collection place of all household detritus. Not there, either.

I opened my office closet and got a flashlight. Searching high and low, I did not find Baby Jesus. I did find one more gift for our grown daughter's stocking, but no Giving Manger box.

I quietly crept into the spare bedroom, where our daughter lay sleeping. I looked on the bookshelves, using my flashlight carefully.

Not. There.

I sat down on a chair in the kitchen, bemoaning the loss of Baby Jesus. I decided to look one more time amidst the clutter in the closet. I got a chair so I could look more carefully. And there he was! Baby Jesus!

Smiling, I lay Baby Jesus among the straw pieces the children had earned by doing service for others. Whew! Now we could talk to the kids about how their preparation for Jesus by doing service created a place for him in the hay. How Jesus Himself came to be a servant, and how we should follow in His example.

It also struck me that we often "lose Jesus" in the chaos of Christmas, and how we should refocus our families (and ourselves) on Him. He came and lived in a human body, completely and utterly human... and completely and utterly God. An incomprehensible dichotomy that is somehow True. I pray that God will continue to work in me so that I constantly seek Him. So that I never lose Jesus again!