God's Big Squeeze

God's Big Squeeze Monday, December 15, 2008 at 2:35pm on FB

Usually, at this time of the year, I’m listening to Christmas music on iTunes. Instead, I’m listening to Abbie sing as she plays with toys. There will be time for Christmas music when she is done singing.

Abbie is 3 ½ years old now & likes to sing the song, My God is So Big!
My God is so big, so strong & so mighty, there’s nothing my God cannot do. (2x)
The mountains are His, the valleys are His, the stars are His handiwork, too.
My God is so big, so strong & so mighty, there’s nothing my God cannot do, for YOU!

It’s almost Christmas. I have lots of fun memories at this time of year . . . Playing outside in the snow; Grandpa Muck pulling us behind the big red tractor on the toboggan (why did my sisters make me sit up front??? I always got snow in my face!); everyone helping carry boxes of Christmas decorations downstairs from the attic where Dad was dropping them down to us (usually to Diana); Mom decorating EVERY room with something Christmas; Dad feeding the fire in the family room while we watched Santa Klaus is Coming to Town & Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer on TV; decorating the Christmas Tree; placing the nativity pieces--just right; listening to the Chipmunks Christmas album; Mom holed up in the basement--wrapping gifts; visiting Grandma Killingbeck’s house on Christmas Eve & opening the gifts sent from Grandma & Grandpa Harrison; Grandpa Harrison & his video camera; big dinner’s at Grandma Harrison’s house-down in the basement & watching Grandpa’s home movies where Aunt Jo inevitably bent over in front of the camera; and the list goes on. I’m sure Di, Dawn & Patti could add to it.

But, Christmas time is more than just special memories of childhood & family. We all know (at least in America, most of us still know) that Christmas is about God sending his Son to earth, to be born of a virgin (a miraculous birth!) Sometimes we forget--when we get caught up in all the shopping, baking, wrapping, parties, etc.--what a great sacrifice was made for that miraculous birth. Remember, Jesus’ sacrifice didn’t start on Calvary. It started when the Holy Spirit came upon Mary & Jesus was conceived.

Ramblings . . .

I recently read the book titled The Great Divorce, by C.S. Lewis. The story is about a man who boards a bus going to heaven. When he gets there, the man finds that his fellow passengers all have a choice to make. Should they stay in heaven, or board the bus & go back (to what? Hell?) (Surprisingly enough, his fellow passengers decide to go back to their own self-imposed hells.) There are citizens of heaven who greet the passengers, answer their questions about heaven & life, and persuade them to continue on to the “higher grounds” in heaven, instead of returning to the bus.

The man, from whose perspective the book is written, is also “assigned” a heavenly citizen who answers his questions. In speaking with the man, the heavenly citizen points out that the bus & it’s passengers started out very small & had to grow exceedingly in size in order to travel to heaven & to perceive heaven as they were seeing it. Someone from heaven could not go back (to earth or hell) because they “would not fit”, they are too big to fit. TOO BIG. Too big to fit in earth---coming from heaven.

Did you ever read the book (or see the movie) Horton Hears a Who by Dr. Seuss? You know--Horton the elephant, hears a small cry for help coming from a tiny speck & discovers that there is a WHOLE WORLD of little people (the Who’s) living on the tiny speck. Is that what earth is like compared to heaven? I often like to ponder what heaven is like. I can’t wait to get there. But, I’m living on the tiny speck right now. I can’t even comprehend how big heaven is, let alone how BIG GOD is!

When Jesus was born as a man, first He had to leave heaven. I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I would want to leave heaven once I was there. I don’t even like to leave the comforts of my own home. Jesus gave up everything. Just think about it.

Jesus had to leave His home--heaven, in exchange for a manger in a stinky stable. He gave up His authority--now He was subject to earthly, sinful parents, as well as political leaders. He was also reliant on these parents, when He was once self-existent. He gave up His infinite power & timelessness--He became a helpless infant, growing up slowly in our earthly time frame. He gave up His omniscience--He no longer knew the Big Picture, but had to pray to His Father for guidance (just as we do.) He gave up His sovereignty--heaven & earth were no longer at His command. He gave up His freedom--His will to do as He wished. He gave up so much more; I cannot list all of His sacrifices here. He willingly gave up all this for us, knowing full well in advance, what we would do to Him, after having to endure this fallen, sinful world for 33 years.

God had to squeeze Himself into man,
because man is just too small to hold all of God.

Now, what is Christmas all about?

So wrap our injured flesh around You
Breathe our air and walk our sod
Rob our sin and make us holy
Perfect Son of God
Perfect Son of God
Welcome to our world
--Welcome to Our World, from the album Deep Enough to Dream by Chris Rice

Philippians 2:5-11 (NIV)
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, BUT MADE HIMSELF NOTHING, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Selected Scripture from the Gospel of Luke

Luke 1:26-35 (NLT)
God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David.

Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!”

Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean.

“Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God! You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!”

Mary asked the angel, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.”

The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God.

Luke 2:1-16 (NLT)
At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. (This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.) All returned to their own ancestral towns to register for this census.

And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. He took with him Mary, his fiancée, who was now obviously pregnant.

And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. She gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them.

That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”

Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying, “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”

When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger.

After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished, but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often. The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. It was just as the angel had told them.


Comments on FB:

Diana Lynn Scott at 8:02pm December 15
WOW! Thank you for writing!I LOVE when you share your heart!PJ you have a many gifts, ALL special, just like you!I love your writing gift! I'm in tears. Once again, Holy Spirit has touched my heart through you. I love you and am proud to be your sister!

Patti Fife at 6:44pm December 16
Listening to your child while she plays is one of the greatest joys as a parent. I am so glad you are listening!!! AMEN to your whole "note" too (except I don't think stables aren't all that stinky-I kinda like them-though I don't want to have a baby in one!!!) Love you!!!

Pamela J Meeker at 11:21pm December 19
Just a few quotes to add about the 'we're on a tiny speck" rabbit trail.

“A person’s a person, no matter how small.” Horton Elephant in Horton Hears a Who! by Dr. Seuss

“If it is maintained that anything so small as the Earth must, in any event, be too unimportant to merit the love of the Creator, we reply that no Christian ever supposed we did merit it. Christ did not die for men because they were intrinsically worth dying for, but because He is intrinsically love, and therefore loves infinitely. And what, after all, does the size of a world or a creature tell us about its ’importance’ or value?” Miracles by C.S. Lewis

Dorothy B Harrison at 11:55am December 20
I am speechless, That was sooo good. Wish we could be making more memories with you this Christmas. We have lots of snow and Abbie would love to ride on a toboggan with her cousin Jack and the rest of the bunch. We need you and Jim here to lend your voices to the Christmas carols on Christmas Eve. You are such a good Mom. Love you

Amye Baker at 7:36am December 21
Pam, thank you for this gift, the reminder in such vivid and beautiful terms. Children say and do the simplest things that lead us to the feet of Jesus...it's beautiful