God pitched His tent among us! This is God’s dream! To be one of us, human like us in all our weaknesses, limitations and vulnerabilities. For a child is born to us! God fulfilled his promise of salvation by sending his only begotten Son to us. He is the fullness of love, the greatest sign of God’s love. Jesus is fully human and fully divine. That is why, Christmas is always a celebration of love, joy, of giving and sharing. Our Christian life therefore is a joyful life because God is present in our journey. He walks with us. Jesus manifested himself two thousands years ago to the shepherds, to the wise men, to Mary and Joseph, to his disciples.
They recognized him and accepted him as the Messiah and Savior. However, his own people rejected him especially the powerful. In our times today God continues to manifest himself in many ways. At times we recognize him. Other times we reject him. We encounter God in our day to day experience. In moments of trials, sufferings, joys, triumphs, hopes, fears, defeats and successes that come to us each day, God is there. This reminds me of a story of a woman who dreamed that Jesus would visit her the next day. The following morning, she cleaned the house thoroughly, prepared a sumptuous meal and put on her best clothes. Later, a neighbor came to borrow money. But she did not entertain her neighbor’s plea because her mind was on her expected visitor. Another asked her to watch their sick child. She also turned down the request. A third came to ask for her help to settle a misunderstanding in the family but again she refused. Meanwhile, Jesus failed to show up at the woman’s house. When Jesus appeared again in her dream that evening, the woman asked why he failed to keep his promise. Jesus told her he did come three times but was turned away each time. How about us? How did God manifest to us? What was our response? Did we accept him or ignore him?
God is with us. We only have to take the time to open our eyes and see; open our ears and hear; open our hearts and feel the presence of this God among us. May we all see and hear and feel and recognize the manifestations of God in our lives today and in each day to come.
