Through the Eyes of a Child
The week before Christmas, the Houston Chronicle ran a “Family Circus” cartoon which showed the father and Jeffy, who looks like he is about four, setting up a nativity set. The dad says, “We need more animals.” To which Jeffy replies, “I’ll go get my lions and tigers!”
Yes, I know that today was Baptism of the Lord Sunday, so I’m a week late to be writing about Epiphany. But with the holidays, visiting family and friends, ski trips and my daughter home from college, I’m running behind. And, our Sunday School Class just had our annual Epiphany Party so I decided to go for it!
We have lots of nativity sets at our house and for the most part they all have the same characters represented. Of course, each has Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus. Most of them have angels, shepherds, and sheep. Many of them have the three wise men bearing their gifts as well as donkeys and maybe even a camel or two. Some of our sets have a manger and palm trees. We have one set that we used as Mary Beth was growing up to celebrate Advent at home. We would sing carols, add someone to the scene, read the scripture and light the candles.
When I read that “Family Circus” cartoon, it made me laugh…for several reasons. Of course, it is funny and fun to see the entire Christmas season and story through the eyes of a child. But the cartoon reminded me of two nativity sets that we have. Years ago, when Mary Beth was very young, she wanted to decorate the outside of our house for Christmas in a big way. No more tasteful candles in the window and garlands around the columns on the front porch. We’re talking landing strip colored lights lining the sidewalk and driveway, colored net lights across all the bushes in the front flower beds, and strings of white and multicolored stars on the porch and in the trees. To complete the picture, we purchased a huge nativity set for the front yard. It is made of wood and has many pieces — Mary, Joseph, a shepherd, sheep, a donkey, the three wise men, and, a puppy! There is a small wooden cradle and we have a baby doll that we wrap and place in the cradle on Christmas Eve when we come home from church.
In my living room I have a nativity set from Cote d’Ivoire. It, too, has all the usual characters, but the wise men are very different and the gifts they carry are different as well. One carries two bunches of date palms (the kind they use to make palm oil), the second is carrying an armload of fire wood, and the third has no gift but is clearly praying. And, surrounding Mary, Joseph and Jesus are not only sheep and a donkey, but also an elephant, a water buffalo, a giraffe, a rhinoceros, a hippo and a fish!
As I pondered Jeffy’s response to his dad, it reminded me that children have no preconceived notion of what is and is not appropriate in a nativity set — just like they have no preconceived notions of prejudice, hatred or justice until they learn it. As parents, Tom and I have worked hard to teach appropriate values to our daughter. Now that she is an adult (or at least she thinks she is!), we can only pray that the lessons we tried to teach her were learned.
But the unique animals included in the Ivorian nativity set, as well as the puppy in mine, reminded me that Jesus is different for each of us! For me, a puppy in my nativity is perfect. Our dogs are truly members of our family, they are warm and loving and represent much goodness. For the Ivorians, fish is one of the staples of their diet. The other animals are probably the ones they are familiar with, the gifts of the world in which they live. How appropriate that those gifts of their world are included in the way they worship Jesus.
Today in church we read from the book of Luke 3:21-22 which says, “Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus had also been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came from heaven, “You are my son, the beloved; and with you I am well pleased.”
What a wonderful picture those verses paint in my mind. And, for me, the picture is an inspiration to try to make my life one with which God is well pleased! No matter which animals are in your nativity set, I pray that your life, too, will please God.
Showers of Blessings,
Leah Taylor