Christmas and the Manger

Merry Christmas! 

It seems to me that there are two templates for living life: one dominated by power and control, the other by surrender, which comes with faith, hope, and love.  Without hope, without faith, without love - without purpose and direction - life is reduced to an attempt to exercise power over whatever little (or big) slice of life we can control. 

For centuries, God has proposed an alternative path, a path that will lead to true freedom and happiness.  It is the path of surrender to God and His will.  Throughout history, God has worked through the weak and the marginalized to show us this way, choosing David, the youngest in his family, to be king; choosing Mary, an unwed teenager, to bear His Son; choosing Israel as His people, etc.  On this Holy Night, God drives home this point by becoming (in the form of the second person of the Trinity) a completely vulnerable and dependent baby.  His first dwelling - a cave.

Peace on Earth, Good Will to All,

Michael S.