The following is from a friend from MilVet with his preface on the writing. “This was written by a friend of mine, very profound and at the same time a pronouncement of unshakable faith.”
I found it as profound as did he and felt it would be worth our reflection on this New Year’s Eve.
I will confess, it is pathetically easy to sit in judgment over humanity. The evidence is weighed, and there's no contest. What light does exist in the world is so easily overwhelmed by the darkness, it appears on only to be a fine candle point in the midst of a vast, inky blackness that stretches toward infinity in every direction.
But in that courtroom of the soul, there is a voice. Quiet. Still. Small. Meek. "And yet, I love them."
This, friends, is the miracle of the stable in Bethlehem. It is, quite frankly, the most profound act of love in human existence.
God, looking across the entire span of human endeavor and history, saw it all. The awfulness. Hatred. Cruelty, on scales vast and infinitesimal. He saw all of the pain and suffering that we have and will inflict on each other. He saw how humanity would reject not just him and his message, but the very spirit that underlies it — love.
He saw that which was utterly unworthy of redemption, that which was so contemptible as to warrant not the first notice of his divine grace.
And yet, he came. "I love them, and I will save them."
This is the miracle of Christmas. God, the one being who would have the most reason to judge us and condemn us to what we all deserve, said no. With a tear, he sent us the most precious thing he could in an effort to redeem us and make us better.
The realization is humbling, moving. Earth shattering. "For God so loved the world..." And once again I am standing in the still of the cathedral of my heart, and the song of the angels rings loud and clear again, bursting forth in the darkness like a new sun in the sky.
This is the miracle that makes me plug in the lights every night, and holds back the tide of darkness that 15 years of observation has created. There are times when the song of the angels is dimmed, briefly overwhelmed, but when the dark tide rolls back, the candle is still burning, just as brightly as ever.
This is the miracle of Christmas. This is the magic of the season. God didn't give up on us, and he never will.
