Back Story

One of the decorations we put up for Christmas (sometimes) is a hand painted Village.  This year, our village has a "back story."

If you click on the image, and look in the lower left hand corner, traveling along the road are three small figures -- they are Mary, Joseph and a donkey.  Each day, they move down the road.  My son says they are stopping at each building to see if there is room for them.  There is a shepherd and sheep on another end of town, moving toward the center, and three wise men, coming from another point.  There is even a lone cow, near the church, moving each day toward the center.

Jesus, thanks to our son, is inside the first building on the left, which is a movie theater.   He's in there watching a movie, waiting to make his appearance on Christmas Day.

The Nativity story, acted out in tiny figurines, in a small, quiet town.

I love that our son thought of it, and that he's moving the figures each day.  I think there is an application to what he is doing to our own lives.  We're moving toward Christmas, waiting.  Mary and Joseph, strangers from outside of town, are trying to find a place to go.  They'll end up homeless, in the park, on Christmas Eve, and Jesus will arrive.

Are we waiting for a day of gift-giving, or are we waiting, watching, for Jesus to appear, so that we can go where he is?