Crawling toward the Manger: Day 4

Today I’m welcoming my friend and fiction critique partner, author Jennifer Rodewald. Find encouragement and truth at the blog she coauthors, The Free Slaves Devotion. 

Advent to Coronation

My oldest is thirteen this year. Thirteen. Wow! Where do the years go? She is at an age where, like a baby transforming into a toddler, I see changes in her literally every day. Each morning, her smile seems more grown up. She wears contacts now, and the little girl glasses are a thing of the past. She drinks chai tea while I sip on my coffee as we wait for the younger kids to get going. Her homework has taken on a grown-up tone, and I see emerging in her a maturity that will shape her into a woman. My baby is growing up.

Strange, though; I still remember with perfect clarity when I carried her in my womb. I remember the first time I felt her move. When she filled the space in my belly, I remember she often had hiccups—which made my freshmen students laugh, because they could see her movement against my clothing. And I remember preparing for her arrival.

That last part…oh how precious it was. Every time we went out to purchase something for our expected cargo was like Christmas day. Every little layette, bottle, toy, and all the baby equipment served to fuel our excitement and joy. As our apartment filled with baby gear, our anticipation for her arrival notched upward. Preparing for our daughter shot quite a buzz into our lives.

But you know, preparing for her adulthood, seeing a young woman emerging from my little girl is pretty thrilling as well. Sometimes we miss that as we shoulder through life—amazing moments beyond the cradle. We shouldn’t, though. My daughter’s transitioning into a lovely young woman is something like preparing for a coronation. One day not too very far away, she will claim independence and I will see the fullness of who she will become. Honestly, I look forward to it—truly, I do! Like a butterfly breaking from her cocoon, I will see the beauty time and change have worked in her life.

Advent should be like that, shouldn’t it? The Christ has come—praise God! Looking back on that precious moment in history should be something like that preparation for my baby. The excitement, the joy, the thrill that animated our days and fueled our anticipation—is this not the same? Because a Child was born, and His birth changed the world. More than that, though, His life, death, and resurrection holds the power to save that world. And, let this be the Yule log of our advent season, He is coming again!

As we crawl toward the birthday of Jesus, let us prepare for His return as well. Come! Let us adore the new-born King. But remember, the Child is no longer in the manger, nor is the Man still on the Cross. He is risen, and He rules.

Come! Let us prepare for His coronation day.