It’s advent. December 1. Only 24 days until Christmas. And I’ve decided this year I actually want to take the time and recognize each day of advent. In my ideal mind, I will have a little something…even if it’s just a smidge…to post on my blog each day until Christmas. I’m not sure what I will stumble upon, as I can recite the Christmas story about as well as I can recite the theme song for Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

But I know there’s nooks and crannies of the story of Jesus’ birth I haven’t begun to understand.

I didn’t think to do this until this afternoon, as I was driving back to the office after delivering a bid (I work in a construction office and we have to bid on public projects), I was naturally listening to Christmas music. The song “Do You Hear What I Hear” came on. Most Christmas music makes me happy, but they are songs I’ve heard over and over so I don’t think much about the lyrics. But today I felt them differently:

Said the night wind to the little lamb,
“Do you see what I see?
Way up in the sky, little lamb,
Do you see what I see?
A star, a star, dancing in the night
With a tail as big as a kite,
With a tail as big as a kite.”

Said the little lamb to the shepherd boy,
“Do you hear what I hear?
Ringing through the sky, shepherd boy,
Do you hear what I hear?
A song, a song high above the trees
With a voice as big as the sea,
With a voice as big as the sea.”

Said the shepherd boy to the mighty king,
“Do you know what I know?
In your palace warm, mighty king,
Do you know what I know?
A Child, a Child shivers in the cold–
Let us bring him silver and gold,
Let us bring him silver and gold.”

Said the king to the people everywhere,
“Listen to what I say!
Pray for peace, people, everywhere,
Listen to what I say!
The Child, the Child sleeping in the night
He will bring us goodness and light,
He will bring us goodness and light.”

And as I listened…in the middle of an ordinary day at my ordinary job in my ordinary life…I felt like maybe every day could be a moment like the moment when Christ was born. The world rejoiced that quiet night in a barn, where young parents Mary and Joseph stood tired/scared/amazed, with the chaos of a hard and angry world surrounding them. The birth of Christ cracked open history and cracked open the world and poured love and goodness and light right into it.

It’s all still there. Every day. Whether we are a mere lamb, a lowly shepherd boy, or a mighty king, the goodness that came with the baby Jesus is there.

LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup;
       you have made my lot secure.
The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
       surely I have a delightful inheritance.
I will praise the LORD, who counsels me;
       even at night my heart instructs me.
I have set the LORD always before me.
       Because he is at my right hand,
       I will not be shaken.
Psalm 16:5-8 (New International Version)