We know it's true, but it's easy to forget with the positive things, Not so much with the negative things. What am I talking about? The reality that small things may seem unimportant but can result in big things.

With negative things, we tend to overemphasize their significance. How often have we let one small thing interfere with our attitude such that it messes up our entire day? And yet with the positive things, we are much less likely to envision that they will result in big things.

Christmas is an example of small things becoming big things. Bethlehem, where Jesus was born, was a small town--I've seen estimates of 100 to 1400 for the population at the time of Jesus' birth. It seems to have had a bunch of shepherds, and probably very few innkeepers. It had historic significance as the City of David, but that was by that tine wistful remembrance, as it had been 400 years since there was any king in Israel. Mary was a peasant girl, and gave birth in a stable. Joseph wasn't a key member of society--he was one of those "essential workers" (a carpenter) of the working class, disregarded until it was important to have some furniture. The shepherds, the first to hear of the birth of Jesus, were even lower on the social scale, although wool for clothing and lambs for eating and sacrificing also made them the same kind of ignored-until-needed "essential workers".

Suffice it to say that if you weren't in on the story already, like Mary's relatives Elizabeth and Zechariah, then you would have no idea that anything big would come out of the out of the way, low key, obscure birth of this child. And not many were in on the story--it was kind of "hush hush" because of the marital status of Joseph and Mary, and their lack of position in society. God came into the world as a vulnerable, needy, helpless baby--not with fanfare, not with clever marketing, not with bombast and thunder and earthquake and enormous displays, but in the humble birth to a humble couple in an out-of-the-way stable in an small town in a small country that didn't even have its own government in charge. Next to no publicity. And yet the world would be changed, as well as untold numbers of individual lives throughout history. We know from the transformation in our own lives, and the world knows from the way that the world itself has been transformed, that the "biggest" ever came from this small, seemingly insignificant beginning.

So take heart. If this is how God chose to become human, then Christ means that "God With Us" is with all of us, and each of us, in our seemingly insignificant obscure lives. With us, and loving us, and walking with us through all we face, as a friend, confidant, and Savior.

OLD TESTAMENT Micah 5:2-5a

2 But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah,
   who are one of the little clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule in Israel,
whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.
3 Therefore he shall give them up until the time
   when she who is in labor has brought forth;
then the rest of his kindred shall return to the people of Israel.
4 And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the Lord,
   in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
And they shall live secure, for now he shall be great
   to the ends of the earth; 5 and he shall be the one of peace.

GOSPEL Luke 2:1-20

1 In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 All went to their own towns to be registered. 4 Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. 5 He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. 7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

8 In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: 11 to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.’ 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,
14 ‘Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace among those whom he favors!’

15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.’ 16 So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. 17 When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.