Christmas is such a wonderful time of the year! Don’t we all look forward to singing, “Hark the herald angels sing, glory to the new born King” and “Away in the manger no crib for a bed, the little Lord Jesus lay down His sweet head?” It is a time of great excitement! Just think about the night of our Lord’s birth! I recently wrote a blog about us belonging to an upside down kingdom and I just realized Jesus’ birth was just as “upside down” as the other scriptures I listed. He is a KING, fully divine, fully man … born from A VIRGIN … royalty, yet delivered through poor hard-working people. His entrance into this world took place in a stranger’s barn — not fit for the King of King’s and Lord of Lord’s, but that is the exact place chosen for such a miracle child.

We celebrate the birth of our Savior by giving to others, enjoying our family/friends, and decorating our halls! Why do we celebrate? JESUS … we celebrate the birth of the One who was sent to carry the sin of the world.

Glory to God! Peace on earth and good will to all men!

In Luke 2:8-12 we read: And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

Another “upside down” scenario. God chose to open up the heavens to SHEPHERDS of all people! He opened the heavens and they saw an angel of the Lord. Can you imagine what they must have seen with their own eyes? Whatever they saw was enough to TERRIFY them! Sarah recently saw an angel and she was afraid. She looked for that angel all through our house for an entire week!

Then in Luke 2:13-14 we see: Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.” Hallelujah! Can you imagine what these shepherds saw? A HEAVENLY HOST praising God. I can stop right here and get excited! Just imagine seeing this with your own eyes. How awesome is our God to include mere men in such an event! This was the big plan since the fall of man. This precious Lamb of God had to come for us. Amazing!

Luke 2:15-20 finishes the birth story: When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

I know this is getting long, but I just have to smile when I read, “Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” Think of what a confirmation this was to Joseph! He was the one having to walk in faith that this was a supernatural birth. Mary told him the truth, and God was faithful to send these messengers to confirm what she shared with those closest to her. I could write a blog about how it seemed to me that Mary, Joseph, and the brothers seemed to “forget” who this was as the years passed. Does anyone else feel this way too? Maybe that will be a future blog. Ha.

Ok, thanks for entertaining my thoughts. I just get so excited about the birth of my Lord!

This is one of the ornaments on our tree. It makes me think of the angels that the shepherds saw that fateful night. This angel carries a banner that says, “Glory to God.”Ok, this is totally random, but here is a picture I took of our daughter at our church last Sunday. I love this picture — she is too cute!

Thanks for stopping by. Bless you all!