the best Christmas photo EVER
Friday, December 9, 2011 at 05:44PM
Merry Christmas! Allow me to share with you (what i think is) the perfect family Christmas card photo. You know, the ones that show up in your mailbox, sometimes with an annual letter.If you don't get alot of these yet, you will. I think it's a sign of age. It's pretty great. Of course, my house has about 285 now. They can't fit on the fridge anymore. There aren't enough magnets left. Besides, any more magnets and the rotational movement of the earth might shift. Anyways - PHOTO
(drumroll)......
i want to point out the magic to you, if you're not seeing it. This picture was the first one my wife took in a series. My son threw up LITERALLY as she took the first photo. Yes, that's what i just said. He threw up. All over his Christmas shirt onesie.
On august 1st of this year, my wife Kristin and i welcomed Conor into the world. In the final moments before i saw him for the first time (in the flesh, so to speak), two prevalent things occured to me:
1.) i am falling more in love with my wife right now
2.) i have really sterilized the Incarnation in my life.
The first : well, it's very simple. My wife is a freaking marine of toughness. She endured a 31 hour labour, with 26 of those without an epidural. I don't know what it's like to endure that. Carol Burnett (the comedian) once said that if a man wanted to understand the pain of childbirth, he should take his bottom lip and pull it over his head.
- enough said.
Watching her endure that pain, all for another life - well, it's a pure example of what real love is; and that is beyond inspiring, it's virtuous.
Which brings me to the second.. . . . . . and i know what you're thinking.
"what's with the nerdy thought process during such a personal moment?"
It's really not that "nerdy" when you think about it. I've never experienced child birth up close. I was praying alot; and when i saw my son come into the world, i realized that child birth is a hard, painful, uncomfortable and messy endeavour; and my perception of the birth of Jesus has been skewed in my head. To be honest, i'd never thought about the birth of Jesus as anything but a perfect moment of Heavenly intersection with Earth in blissful grace. The reality is, it's nothing like that. I mean, there IS that moment im sure happened at some point; its the moment we sing about in "Silent Night"; ".....all is calm, all is bright...". That's what you see on the face of every nativity scene around the world. It's the promise of a calm bright silence in the middle of an unnerving, cloudy noise of a world.
The past 4 and a half months have been a life changing experience on many levels, but in the biggest way, i can't escape that it's profoundly changed my understanding of the Incarnation, based on a simple thought, really:
God saved us through His Passion, by way of becoming a baby.
Every night that i've had to get out of bed to feed, change, console and comfort, sing to, or simply hold, my son, i've been reminded that the God of the Universe chose to enter the world in this form; not as a conquering King, but a humble, messy, dependent baby. It's made me realize that one of the chief characteristics OF the Incarnation (and therefore of the character of Jesus) is humility. The humility of God, to become fully man (and still fully God) is something that i'm realizing i completely overlook when i think about how to be a faithful follower of Jesus in the world around me. Christ the conquering hero came as Christ the dependent, Christ the weak, Christ the vulnerable; the perfect Son of God in the frailest form possible. It makes me realize the real gift of the life of Jesus isn't just the cross, or even eternal life. It's that in light of the mystery of His whole life lived; a life that spent 30 years hidden in the obscurity of an artisan town, with only 3 years of public teaching, preaching, and healing. I still fall into the temptation to think of my importance as defined by what im doing. I wonder if God lived a life intentionally to show us how important "ministry" is, as opposed to just being a person; to live life faithfully and walking humbly with God.
so back to that photo.........and the wisdom that comes from it.
In our attempt to sometimes capture a moment, i think we accidentally can sterilize it. We try to make it perfect and clean; but if we learn anything from the Incarnation, is that God desires to come into the middle of the mess. To put it another way, the Church is not just a house for the rehabilitated, it's also triage for the wounded on the battlefield. That's part of what makes the Gospel "good news" :) The news for you and i is that God became a baby, "so you could no longer fear Him, but love Him (Pope Benedict XVI)...that quote became a strong reality tonight, at Christmas vigil mass. I held my son as we sang "o come all Ye faithful", and during the readings, he fell asleep in my arms. Without warning, i was reminded of the simple reality that this was how Jesus started his human existence. In this form. I started imagining, "what if this was Jesus? In my arms, breathing, nestled up against my neck". I was humiliated at the thought of God having that much trust and humility. It makes no sense to my imperfect, flawed brain. It is from this starting point that God does wish for virtue to grow within us; not from mere sentiment, but rather a transformational encounter that brings peace; and His peace has the power to bring lasting change in our lives and in our world.
The cross, i understand in faith (although never fully). The sacramental life of grace, the same thing. But the King of Heaven becoming a baby and living amongst us (for 30 years before 3 years of ministry) - it defies understanding for me, even though now i'm a dad. It truly is a mystery to me, but i pray that the Holy Spirit makes my spirituality a little less focused on being perfect and sterile and solving the mystery, and more about embracing the humble word made flesh, and embracing the mystery. I pray the same for you this year as well.
These pictures should be self explanatory. And YES dolphins do feel strange. Remember to send in your own pics of you and your friends at the show and we will put them up here!
Mattmaherband@gmail.com
