Borrowed Breath

Michelle’s cousin is a missionary abroad ministering with her husband to the street kids in their community. She shared this story with the family in her last email. I asked her if I could share it, and she said I could, but asked me not to reveal her location or the name of the young boy in the story.

Be blessed.

“Dear Friends & Family,

Here is January’s story, it’s a short one but rather profound i think….

I had really wanted to have a Nativity scene to display for Christmas but had no luck finding one here in ____, though there were Christmas trees and all sorts of other decorations around.  Anyhow, in early January my friend Lynn brought me back a Nativity scene with all the figurines, from _____.  I figured why wait till next year so I set it up immediately…I spent several minutes positioning all the figures just so; Mary and Joseph close to Baby Jesus, the shepherds with their sheep coming up along the side, the 3 wise men at a proper distance, beginning their approach, the Angel looking on from behind (there’s no stable with this set so just the figures), etc.   I was pleased with my work, it looked just like it should, in keeping with the story the way we usually told it. So maybe an hour later that same evening, I ran upstairs to get something while one of the boys, “Sam,” was waiting inside downstairs.  I was gone not more than 2 minutes but by the time I came down the entire Nativity scene had been re-arranged and “Sam” was nowhere in sight.  I was thunderstruck by what I saw- he had arranged every single figurine, from the Angel to the last sheep, into a perfect circle, and at the very center was the Baby Jesus.

It was the perfect picture of Adoration- every single face of those figurines turned towards Him in adoring worship.  I hadn’t even taken much notice of their expressions before, but in this position they all seemed to look upon Him with a heavenly glow.  All I know is I felt utterly convicted to see how this boy had arranged them, after my flimsy artistic attempt, he had captured the essence of this scene so purely and so simply, I was truly taken aback and decided right then that I would not touch them again.

I have never seen a Nativity scene arranged in this way, maybe in part because when there’s a stable involved the quarters are a bit cramped, but also because we like to make things more complicated than they should be.  Thinking the angel has to be on the roof, and some of the animals a bit far off from Baby Jesus, or maybe we don’t want too many shepherds crowding in on Him.. whatever our reasons for how we act out the Nativity scene, I think this boy, someone with only the faintest knowledge of who Jesus really is,  knew exactly how to arrange this scene in one minute!  When I saw him later that evening, I casually asked if he had been the one to re-arrange the figures.  A bit sheepishly he replied “Yes I did… is it okay to have them like that?”   I smiled and said yes you have arranged them exactly how they should be with Baby Jesus at the center.   Later on, I learned from Lynn that the same evening, “Sam” had gone over to her house next door and said, “____ house is more beautiful than yours now because they have the Baby Jesus!”   Ha ha, what he doesn’t realize is that Baby Jesus was in her house too, only not the ceramic figurine kind (:   I think in pure childlike faith, “Sam” inherently knows something that so many of us can easily forget-  that it all boils down to worshipping Him…in the manger, on the Cross and in His Heavenly Position.  What a wonderful post-Christmas reminder, that if we acknowledge His rightful place at the Center of our lives, then we can step back and say Ahhh, now this is Right.  Every other attempt to organize or position the people and details of our life will always fall short.

I know that even without my asking, many of you will be Praying that the seed of belief in this boy’s heart will grow and grow into a strong oak of Faith. So thanks in advance!”

There you have it.
I told you it was a good story!

May Jesus Christ be your center today.