Scene Changers

I found Baby Jesus in my Christmas stocking this morning.

Not the real One, of course, but the one that had been missing for a couple of days from my tabletop Fontanini nativity scene. I’m pretty sure the one who put it there was my 4 ½ year old granddaughter, Brileigh. I’m letting the grandchildren play with the characters all they want since the pieces are unbreakable and too big to swallow and they seem to enjoy it. That does mean, however, that the scene looks different every time I walk by it. I have found the Holy Family abiding in the field with the shepherds. Once I found the angel lying in the manger with a rooster. A few times the Wise Men have been in a far off country – like under the couch or in a basket near the fireplace. Last week Baby Jesus was actually in the manger but wrapped in a string of tiny stick-on valentines.

It’s an adventure.

But certainly no more of one than the real Mary and Joseph happened upon right before their wedding. She’s pregnant but not by her betrothed. An angel visits them both telling them not to worry – that this is all God’s doing. And the Caesar forces them to travel 80+ miles to pay a tax right around her due date. And Mary goes into labor while she and Joseph are in temporary housing, which happens to be a stable. And then…well, you know the rest, but here’s the point: God has a plan for each of us, and it’s probably different from what we would have chosen for ourselves. He can move the pieces of the scene around however He wants. It’s His call, His work, His way. We can choose to accept it and follow it…or not. And it’s like with the nativity scene characters; we may have to search for each part of God’s plan for us one piece at a time until it all fits, until it makes sense.

It’s an adventure.

Uh oh, one of the sheep has gone astray. I need to go search 2-year-old Crosby’s pockets.