Advent: My Plan or God’s

The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.

Proverbs 16:9 ESV

 For some reason, I was allowed to choose the family Christmas tree when I was about eleven years old. We planned a Saturday in early December—packed a sack lunch, poured hot chocolate into the Thermos, bundled up, and piled into our late-model station wagon.

Arriving at the designated area on Sugarloaf Mountain, west of Boulder, Colorado, my hometown, we parked just off the snow-packed road. After grabbing some rope, a tarp, and the bow saw, we trudged single file through crunchy snow. Our eyes focused on the tops of 20-foot-tall evergreen trees as we envisioned a perfect one to take home. Eventually, I stopped and pointed to my favorite one. Dad and my brothers cut it down and then dragged the bound treetop back to our station wagon.

At home, Dad stood the tree in its stand and removed the rope. The branches sprang out to half the width of our living room!  It had appeared much smaller on the side of the mountain! Dad trimmed branches, and it was ready for decorations.

This is the Christmas I knew: planned holiday activities.

A decade later, and since, I have reflected on the Christmas of the Bible. I ponder Jesus and, in wonder, appreciate what the first Christmas might have been like.

What if Joseph and Mary, pregnant with Jesus, had not obeyed the Roman decree for all families to register in their hometowns for the census? They wouldn’t have left Nazareth for King Jesus to be born in Bethlehem as prophesied (Micah 5:2; John 7:42). Did they know that it would be Mary’s time to deliver her divine baby? And where would they stay? God knew. It had been His plan all along, and He led Joseph and Mary to an innkeeper’s animal shelter, where baby Jesus was born and laid in a feeding trough.

This is the Christmas I now know and celebrate: the Christ Child.

God, Your plans are best and incomprehensible!

Karen Sims