For unto us a child is born... again

It was a lovely Thanksgiving. We had beautiful weather when rain had been predicted. The table was set with family silver, china and crystal, reminders of loved ones no longer with us. And gathered around our table on Thursday... mama, Natalie(a young friend in town for a month), our son Adam and his wife Michelle, and the centerpiece for our thanksgiving this holiday, their baby son Rowan (long o please, like the Archbishop of Canterbury). Rowan is a bundle of joy wrapped in diapers and onesies.
Adam and Michelle are tender parents, holding Rowan with loving arms and hands. All babies are a journey into a land of wonder and delight, fatigue and frustration, fear and trembling, an affirmation of life as gift. This baby with his father’s nose and his mother’s eyes holds the promise of God with us once again. I hold Rowan, he looks into my eyes, smiles at me with the corners of his mouth turned up, delighted to be in my presence and like Mary, my heart sings a Magnificat.
Last night Michael and I watched a movie... Eat, Pray, Love... that is taken from the story of one woman’s journey towards wholeness. The main character travels to Italy, India and Bali. The lesson she learns at a Hindu ashram is to forgive and love herself. She speaks of God in each of us, honoring and loving God in each of us... Incarnation in India, a land where images of God in us are overwhelming in numbers and need.
It is easy to see and delight in God Incarnate in sweet babies. Their smiles ignite joy sparklers in our hearts. The more difficult vision is to see God in us, the tired, mistake making grown ups who are weathered and worn by life. Our image of God is often buried under years of worry, struggle and pain with joy an infrequent visitor.
This Advent I will hold in my heart the joy that comes when I see God in others, babies and grouchy old men, worried women and fractious children, those who live with grief and those who have yet to experience the sting of death. Now that I am closer to my end than my beginning, I will not take joy for granted. I will search for the Christ Child born again and again in each of us, celebrating the presence of the Source of Life in each life gift. Thanks be to God for being born again and again and again. For unto us a child is born. Unto us, a gift is given...