The Christmas season is upon us, and it is time to get out the Christmas tree, the decorations, the lights, and the Nativity scene for the kids. The Nativity set is one of my favorite Christmas decorations, as it has such a rich meaning to me. When I was a young girl, we had two Nativity scenes that I remember: the breakable Nativity scene placed near the Christmas tree and the plastic one my brothers and I used to constantly act out the story of Jesus’ birth. Being able to “touch” Jesus as a child during Christmas meant so much to me that I decided my kids had to have the same experience. So, my husband and I bought a set for the kids when they were born. Each year as we got out the decorations, they all stopped to help unpack the characters and set up the scene.

A few years back, my son, David, did something that drove me crazy. He crowded all the characters close to Baby Jesus, and you could not see any of their faces. It was like a mob trying to see a superstar! I thought it was an accident at first, blamed it on his being young, and changed the set back to being spread out. You see, when I set up my nativity scenes around the house, I made sure there was adequate space between all the characters and that their faces could be seen.  But he changed it right back to the cluster around Jesus. After this went on for the third or fourth time I asked him why. “Mommy, they came to see Jesus and to worship Him; we don’t need to see their faces.”

Here I was so worried about symmetry and how things looked that I forgot about the most important thing of all: being in the presence of Jesus—even in the little things of a Nativity scene. How many times do we as Christians look around at all the people who come to see Jesus and forget to keep our eyes on Him? We get distracted with the positions people hold in life (shepherds/wise men), with our earthly possessions or circumstances (a mule and a stable), or when others have a different timetable (the wise men arriving later). Yet, none of that mattered when Mary looked into the eyes of a young Baby. Joseph forgot about his troubles when he saw Mary, his future bride, holding God’s very own Son! It didn’t matter when the shepherds or wise men came because it was not about any of them; it was about Jesus.

Which character are you this Christmas season? Are you distracted like the Nativity sets I put around my house, or are you trying to get as close to Jesus as possible, not caring what it might look like to others? I pray you will choose to act like a child and get so close to Jesus that you can “touch” Him!

© 2017 Susan M. Sims

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