Through His lowliness

Christmastime…is the season in which it is most appropriate — and most hopeful — to remember our fragility, our dependency, and the great reversal of the kingdom of God:
“But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong” (1 Corinthians 1:27).

Advent reminds us that we are in need of someone Sovereign.
It also reminds us that, like the baby in a Bethlehem stable, we too are somewhat out of place, homeless and longing for home. The image of a tearful baby in a manger is a picture of God in his most shocking, unbefitting state –

the Most High becoming the lowest,

the face of God wrapped tightly in a young girl’s arms.

…Within our most deeply felt needs for love and refuge, we are reminded that there is One who comes so very far to meet us.
Inherent in our most vulnerable days is the hope that God, too, took on the despairing quality of fragility in order to offer the hope of wholeness.

In our most weakened states of sin and hopelessness, Christ breaks in and shows the power of God in the face of a child.

Indeed, glory to God in the lowest!

-Jill Carattini