Do you like surprises?
Did you receive anything this Christmas that was a complete surprise to you? Something that was quite unexpected but actually if you had thought about it, was just what you needed?
Last Christmas I received some owl boot fleece lined slippers – a complete surprise, nothing I would have chosen, but just what I needed in a cold vicarage! And very welcome.
More than 2000 years ago, the first Christmas was marked by a series of complete surprises and certainly not things we would have chosen had we had the choice.
Mary’s life was completely interrupted by a surprise visit of an angel announcing she would have a child. Joseph too had the unexpected visit from an angel telling him his fiancé was having a child that was not his.
Shepherds calmly doing their job were surprised by angels announcing the birth of a Saviour. Then turning up in the stable, to the amazement of the new parents telling them of what they had seen and heard. Magi visiting the home of Mary and Joseph with incredibly surprising gifts for the young Jesus, more lavish than they could hardly have imagined.
In the first few years of Jesus’ life, Mary and Joseph possibly witnessed more surprises than any other couple in history.
The thing is, God is always ready to surprise, and his surprises are often things that we never knew we wanted but are always things that we or others need.
Are you going to be open enough to see and receive the gift that God wants to surprise you with this year?
Luke 2:11 “To you is born this day.. your Saviour who is Christ the Lord” – Jesus the greatest surprise gift of all!