"This Child Will Change Your Life!"

"Your life just won't be the same."

I remember clearly the older lady who told me this, nine years ago, when my wife and I were expecting our first child.  I'm not sure exactly what she meant.

Perhaps she meant that we would have messy diapers and baby food in our futures.  Perhaps she knew that we could no longer sit at a table set for two, or that we would have plenty of evenings where we rubbed the sleep from our eyes to clean up the after effects of a stomach virus or, console a child dealing with bad dreams.

Perhaps she knew that I would become less selfish -- focusing on the needs of this little girl who was coming to live with us, rather than on what made me happy.

I don't know exactly what she meant, but she sure was right.

I can imagine some older lady saying the same thing to Joseph and Mary, some two thousand years ago. 

"This child will change your life!"

Probably the same things were true for baby Jesus.  He was a normal baby.  He did everything a normal baby and child would do.  His parents did the normal things parents do to take care of a growing infant and child.  He grew and they were changed in the process.

Yet, He came to earth to do more than just change His parent's lives.  He came to change the world.

This Christmas, I pray that all of you would meet Him, know Him, and love Him.

This child will change your life.

If you let Him.