For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. – Isaiah 9:6

Today's Scripture Reading (December 24, 2024): Isaiah 9

I don't pretend to have all of the answers. For me, that is part of the problem we suffer through in our world. The cause of the problem is an unwillingness to converse with people about things we don't know or maybe the things for which we have no answers. We are filled with hot-topic beliefs, and nothing brings out our ire more than someone who disagrees with us on those issues.

I believe in the sanctity of life, every life. But maybe not for the reasons that some would expound on. One of my reasons for believing every life is meaningful is that we have no idea who the difference makers really are at birth. Every life on this planet we share has the potential to make a difference. I might even assert that every life has the potential to become a world changer, and whether we make that change or not is often up to us.

It is part of the power of Christmas. A child has been born, and the world has been changed. God has come to dwell among us, a process that started with Jesus as a child. It wasn't how we expected God to come, but it was the way he came. And now, every time a child is born, we are reminded of the miracle of God and the potential for even one child to change this world.

What God did on a significant scale is repeated on a minor scale regularly in our everyday lives. Part of the Christmas miracle was that God didn't do anything unusual in the birth of the Messiah; he used the same mechanism to change the world that he had used since the beginning of time. Abraham, Moses, David, Elijah, and any of the prophets were born as children to some very ordinary parents. Why would we think it might be different for the Messiah? Unto us, a child is born.

Christmas really is about the child in all of us. And about the potential for change even among the smallest of those who walk with us. The time has come to honor the child in all of us and the one who came and changed everything.

Welcome to Christmas Eve.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Luke 1