The Christ Child

I really love Christmastime.

Our first Christmas together :)

I'm sure it seems strange to those who do not subscribe to the Christian faith that we dedicate several months each year to worship an infant who was born over two millennia ago, and it may seem strange that we devote so much more of ourselves to worshiping the baby Jesus than we do to worship the man who lived and atoned and died for us. It may seem that we should proclaim this same fervent adoration for Christ year round and stop limiting it to December, and maybe we should.

But I really love Christmastime. I love putting up the tree and the lights, and listening to Christmas carols, and doing it all in celebration of a baby that was born in Bethlehem the first Christmas night. Never before in my life have I understood how alarmingly simple it can be to become distracted by all the troubles and decisions and exhaustions of the world and slip into easy complacency in regards to my faith in my Savior, and this year especially I have relished the opportunity to turn my heart back towards Christ.

I've been thinking a lot about what it is about the baby Jesus that is so special to me. I think it's because the Christ child makes it possible for me to relate to Jesus as a man, and as the Son of God. I think if He had always appeared as the supreme, almighty, omniscient, omnipotent, ruler of the heavens and the earth, then I would scarcely dare to approach Him, feeling that I am so far beneath Him that I could never hope to qualify for a morsel of His attention.

But Christ did not appear in this way, in the form that is likely the most fitting for Him. Instead, He came to earth just as the rest of us did--as a baby, and then a child, and finally as a man that looked no different from any other of the time. He made himself mortal so that we could comprehend Him, so that we could relate to Him and He to us. Because He came as a child, He knows what it is to learn and to grow and to discover our divine purpose.



Because He came as a child, He has a perfect empathy and a divine love for each of us. Though He never made a mistake, He understands how mistakes can be made, and He is perfectly merciful, full of forgiveness and loving kindness.

The baby Jesus had yet to learn the gospel. He had yet to be faced with temptation, and yet to make the right decision every single time. He had yet to be scorned and shamed and tortured and put to death, and yet to show perfect love towards those who did it to Him. The baby Jesus is a Jesus that touches a special place in my heart because He had not yet done any of the things that set Him so far ahead of me in terms of our eternal progression. This is a Jesus that I feel safe in approaching, that I know in my heart as well as my mind will not turn me away, and will not condemn me for the mistakes I have made, for the too-little effort I have applied to studying and living His gospel. This is a Jesus who I know will embrace me when I return home, who will comfort me on my journey there, and who will seek me every single time I wander from the path. This is a Jesus that I can know and love, the Jesus I relate to the most because for a brief moment, He was a child just as I am. And I love Him for it.