Wonder and worship the Divine Child

     "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth." (John 1:14)
     "How shall we deal with such a child?  Have our hands, soiled with daily toil, become too hard and too proud to fold in prayer at the sight of this child?  Has our head become too full of serious thoughts...that we cannot bow our head in humility at the wonder of this child?  Can we not forget all our stresses and struggles, our sense of importance, and for once worship the child, as did the shepherds and the wise men from the East, bowing before the divine child in the manger like children?"  Dietrich Bonhoeffer
     The words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer as the noose of the Nazis tightened and the unspeakable horrors of Hitler and war and death loomed large. Even in the midst of "stresses and struggles," the wise will worship and bow "before the divine child in the manger like children."
     My prayer today is a simple one: Lord restore to us the wonder of Your coming.  Might we pause in our labors to see, truly see, the astounding, earth-shattering wonder of Almighty God pouring Himself into the tiny, helpless seven pound form of an infant.  Who can fathom it?  A squalling baby...and yet encased within that very real, very little bundle of flesh is the eternal, omnipotent, omniscient Creator of the heavens and the earth.
      Come from heaven to earth for us.  For you.  For me.  How can we not cease our labors to pause and gawk in astonishment at the audacity, the wonderful wonder of such a God who would stoop so low in order to come so near for love so great?
     "The answer to deep anxiety is the deep adoration of God," says Ann Voskamp.
     "O come let us adore Him.  O come let us adore Him.  O come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord."
     Yes, Lord, we worship the Divine Child in the manger even as we wonder with astonished and humble gratitude that You would love us so infinitely much to stoop so low, to come so near, and to choose, as Eugene Peterson put in it in John 1:14, "to move into the neighborhood."  It's one thing to come for a visit...but You came...and stayed...for good, for forever.  Thank You, Lord Jesus.  No matter our "stresses and struggles," might we worship You this day with joyous wonderment.
     To God be the glory.