December 19

               One of the sayings we often hear when some disaster befalls us, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” I know a version of that which has become one of my favorite sayings, “When life gives you lemons, make grape juice, and then sit back and let the world wonder how you did it.”

                Sometimes I think that sums up God’s attitude toward His creation. Not that God is malicious and delights in doling out assorted miseries; rather, that God does all these wonderful things so that we can wonder – and delight – in how He did them all.

                We are finite beings with a finite lifespan, and trying to comprehend an infinite God is clearly impossible. There are so many things in this world, from dazzling sunsets and starry nights and vast expanses of ocean to the warmth of a smile, the love of a pet, and what most of us would consider “ordinary,” that there is much for us to wonder about. How did God do all this? But that could be missing the point. Maybe the point of all this not to wonder how God did it, but to be lost in the wonder and delight of the fact that He did it.

                In this season of Advent, as we anticipate the coming of the birth of Jesus Christ, let us remember one of the greatest wonders of all: that God sent His Son into the world to redeem us, and that He came in the humble guise of a baby. That, perhaps, is the greatest wonder of them all.

Lord, You have created us to wonder at all the marvelous things you have done. Help us to keep that sense of wonder as we hail the birth of Jesus this Advent season. Amen.