veiled in flesh

one of the blogs i follow is written by a brave and beautiful mom who can't bear children - well, not for the first 9 months.  she has two beautiful boys, and she & her husband bore them through the intense labour of adoption and the heaviness of a pain-filled past, into the gorgeous warm love of their family.  i read it in the middle of the night while feeding vava, sleepy and sweet in the quiet.

before i went to bed, i was cleaning the kitchen and listening to kenny & dolly christmas carols.  'once upon a christmas' starts out with a description of mary and joseph's arrival in bethlehem:

joseph found a stable in which mary had her child / once upon a christmas was the birth of Jesus Christ.

i was struck with the incongruity.  the Son of God - born in a stable.

but God does that a lot.  hides his beauty in plain wrapping -

the stable, perhaps, his version of brown paper packaging?

the tabernacle, all glorious and golden, carved and set with gems, was covered entirely with animal skins.  veiled in flesh, the glory of holy God.

eternal life came cradled in a dark tomb, birthed on a bloody cross.

and God makes mothers, brings children, out of the bruise of infertility.

i know.
sam and vava, both miracles, wrapped up in their own brown paper packaging.

what is it for you, the veiling?  what veils His glory right now?

unwrap it for christmas, dear friend.  find his beauty, hidden.  let it be born in you this christmas, painful and glorious in your own dark stable, under a skyful of stars and bursting with angel-song.