Monday, December 26, 2011
The Best Present Ever
7:56 PM | 
Posted by
Lauren Michelle Wright
This year's Christmas was low key, quiet and incredible. The time that I got to spend with my family was warm, and joyful, and fun! We didn't give any grand, extraordinary gifts that cost a lot of money. Everything was thought out and precious. It truly was a beautiful Christmas. But I think my favorite gift that I got this year, is what God showed me out in the wilderness.
You see, every year me and my best friend go out Christmas night and do something (usually something crazy). This year we decided to drive all the way out to the observatory and look at the stars. It was dark, creepy, windy, and COLD. We bundled up, and climbed up the big hill, coffee and sleeping bags in tow. At first, I was miserable. It was windy and freezing. But then we got to our destination: a circle made out of rocks stacked on top of one another, about two feet high. When I sat down in the circle all of a sudden the wind was gone, but I could hear it rushing, and roaring all around me. It was amazing! And then I looked up. The sky was perfectly clear and we could see the milky way stretching from horizon to horizon. There were so many stars that we couldn't even find the big dipper until I whipped out google sky on my phone! It was truly breath-taking.
There are a few different things that I learned as we were lying out under this blanket of lights. The first was a really cool analogy about light. We noticed that Venus was shining brighter than any of the stars, and we thought it was crazy because Venus is the only one we could see that doesn't create it's own light. It made me wonder, do we shine brighter when we reflect the light of the sun/son than when we are trying to create our own light? Just something to think about...
But the most profound thing that I realized, this Christmas, is just how crazy the Christmas story really is. The God who created all of those stars, uncountable, came to this earth as baby. The maker of the skies was humble enough to become helpless and completely reliant on a people he knew failed over and over again. And throughout his life on this earth, knowing exactly where he was heading, he remembered. I can just imagine him lying on his back in the garden of Gethsamane, looking up at a brilliant sky and remembering creating those stars; recalling giving them each a name. Incredible. Each person he met, he created. I wonder if his thoughts ever went back to the moment he created someone has he rebuked them, or healed them, or brought them back from the dead. It's so crazy to think about.
And then my mind goes to the cross. Did Christ remember creating the soldier who pounded the nails into his flesh? Did he consciously will the soldier to keep breathing as he lifted the hammer? And when the nail sunk into his wrist, did he flashback to designing the medial nerve, and how it would be capable of such intense sensations? Did he think of how flawlessly his design proved to work as the pain became unbearable? I cannot even fathom.
This is what he did for me. He is the best present ever. It makes me wonder how I can possible question if he will be true to his promises, or if he will come, when he already came. I don't want to just remember this, or even merely celebrate it. I want to learn to live every day as if I believe that it's true. Because I do. With all of my heart.
"One thing have I asked of the Lord, that I will seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the glory of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple... My heart saith unto thee, since thou hast said, Seek ye my face, Thy face, Lord will I seek... I should despair, unless I believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and let thine heart take courage; yea, wait thou for the Lord."
You see, every year me and my best friend go out Christmas night and do something (usually something crazy). This year we decided to drive all the way out to the observatory and look at the stars. It was dark, creepy, windy, and COLD. We bundled up, and climbed up the big hill, coffee and sleeping bags in tow. At first, I was miserable. It was windy and freezing. But then we got to our destination: a circle made out of rocks stacked on top of one another, about two feet high. When I sat down in the circle all of a sudden the wind was gone, but I could hear it rushing, and roaring all around me. It was amazing! And then I looked up. The sky was perfectly clear and we could see the milky way stretching from horizon to horizon. There were so many stars that we couldn't even find the big dipper until I whipped out google sky on my phone! It was truly breath-taking.
There are a few different things that I learned as we were lying out under this blanket of lights. The first was a really cool analogy about light. We noticed that Venus was shining brighter than any of the stars, and we thought it was crazy because Venus is the only one we could see that doesn't create it's own light. It made me wonder, do we shine brighter when we reflect the light of the sun/son than when we are trying to create our own light? Just something to think about...
But the most profound thing that I realized, this Christmas, is just how crazy the Christmas story really is. The God who created all of those stars, uncountable, came to this earth as baby. The maker of the skies was humble enough to become helpless and completely reliant on a people he knew failed over and over again. And throughout his life on this earth, knowing exactly where he was heading, he remembered. I can just imagine him lying on his back in the garden of Gethsamane, looking up at a brilliant sky and remembering creating those stars; recalling giving them each a name. Incredible. Each person he met, he created. I wonder if his thoughts ever went back to the moment he created someone has he rebuked them, or healed them, or brought them back from the dead. It's so crazy to think about.
And then my mind goes to the cross. Did Christ remember creating the soldier who pounded the nails into his flesh? Did he consciously will the soldier to keep breathing as he lifted the hammer? And when the nail sunk into his wrist, did he flashback to designing the medial nerve, and how it would be capable of such intense sensations? Did he think of how flawlessly his design proved to work as the pain became unbearable? I cannot even fathom.
This is what he did for me. He is the best present ever. It makes me wonder how I can possible question if he will be true to his promises, or if he will come, when he already came. I don't want to just remember this, or even merely celebrate it. I want to learn to live every day as if I believe that it's true. Because I do. With all of my heart.
"One thing have I asked of the Lord, that I will seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the glory of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple... My heart saith unto thee, since thou hast said, Seek ye my face, Thy face, Lord will I seek... I should despair, unless I believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and let thine heart take courage; yea, wait thou for the Lord."
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