Norman Vincent Peale tells of a time when he and a friend
were trapped in a massive traffic jam in central
The taxi meter was running, but they were going nowhere. The
taxi driver was fuming and honking, as only
Suddenly Dr. Peale heard his friend exclaim, “What a baby!”
“What did you say?” Dr. Peale asked him.
“What a baby!” his friend repeated. “He was born across the
sea in an obscure village 2,000 years ago, and He can still tie up traffic on
What a baby, indeed! There in that manger in
That is the mystery and the marvel and the might of Christmas. Not the twinkling lights and the holly wreaths and the trips to Grandma’s and the gifts piling up beneath the tree.
The excitement of Christmas is that the God of heaven became a baby.
No wonder the shepherds bowed in His presence and the kings from the East paid homage to Him. No wonder the angels of heaven sang of His birth.
They knew who lay in that manger.
They, too, said, “What a baby!”
Today in the hectic hustle of the hottest retail sales time of the year, in a month when our calendars overflow with parties and trips and banquets and invasions of kinfolks, it is only too easy for us to lose sight of the incredible Child who causes it all.
Stressed and stretched by Yuletide expectations that for many of us seem to grow more elaborate and excessive with each passing year, we may find ourselves feeling forlorn because we are missing out on the joy and cheer so highly touted in the carols and the beer commercials and the pageantry of the holiday.
To regain some semblance of seasonal sanity and to recover the warmth and wonder of this time of the year, refocus your heart on the One whose birth we celebrate. And with Dr. Peale’s friend confess anew the extraordinary greatness of that Baby.