Do You See What I See?

The preschool kids were coming out into the foyer after their turn at the Northside Baptist School's presentation of "The Best Christmas Present Ever."  I was there in the foyer, at the Welcome Center, ready to hand out invitations to "The Sounds of Christmas" performance on Sunday and I heard their conversation. 

The first little boy in the line they were now struggling to stay in, turned and announced to the other preschoolers, "I saw my Daddy!"  Without skipping a beat the next little girl in line said, "I saw my Mommy and my Daddy!"  Then someone else chimed in to the new competition, "I saw my Mommy and my Daddy and my Grandma!"

As the teachers tried to keep them in line and coach them to walk back through the foyer for their appearance in the next act, the one-upmanship continued of who each one had seen. It was as if this whole Christmas program had been arranged for them so they could see their family. As adults we know the bigger reality is that all those people - family and friends - had not come there to be seen by the children but to see the children. 

We can read the Christmas story and see it is written from the human stand point of what we saw in that first advent.  Mary saw the angel, Gabriel.  The wise men saw a star.  Joseph saw visions in a dream.  The shepherds saw a host of angels and then they saw the baby in the manger.  These were all wonderful sights and those who saw them told others of the amazing things they had seen.

I wonder if from heaven's view though, we all are a lot like those preschoolers.  We can think about what we have seen in "Christmas" but the greater reality is that the reason Christmas happened in the first place is because we were seen.  God sent his son from heaven to earth because he saw our need and he acted on his love for us - just like the families in the audience came to see the kid's performance.

Perhaps this Christmas, we need to not take the perspective that all this happened for us to see, but it all happened the way it did first and foremost, because we have a God who sees us, who knows our need and who always acts on it.  The fact that we get to see him at all, is because he sees us.

She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: "You are the God who sees me," for she said, "I have now seen the One who sees me."  Genesis 16:13

for they journey...

Tim