Being raised in the stoutest of Roman Traditions, I was reminded (assaulted?  pummeled?) with constant reminders of how my sacrifices in life and hardships were miniscule, unimportant, and weak compared to the Cross.  Relatively later in life, when I began to put the Cross into its proper perspective, as the absolute beginning of redemption for all of us, I gained a new appreciation.

That new appreciation, was that the Word, content, blissful, serene, and living from eternity past with God, would consent to come here and live for a season (30 years or so?).

Consider the sacrifice in that.  To leave perfection and to come here, a First Century Palestine that was rife with poverty, disease, injustice, and pain.  An occupied land that could only offer heat, cold, thirst, hardship, and a lifestyle that we here in the U.S. could barely imagine.  And as I ruminate on the birth of Christ today, that is what I am most thankful for, Jesus LIFE with its 30+ years of sacrifice, even more so than his death today. 

It’s a staggering thought.  The crucifixion and scourging was 24 hours of unimaginable pain.  But was that more or less of a sacrifice than 30+ years away from perfection? 

Merry Christmas!

I was struck by how many said “Yes” when they could have said “No.”
Mary could have said No.
Joseph could have said No.
Jesus could have said No.
So what is our human response to God?  Do we say Yes or No?  My prayer is that we all say Yes.

Christmas Pax to all.

Thank you for posting this profound statement.  I view the incarnation as the beginning of that sacrifice which culminated at Calvary.

I recall a good friend of mine an Episcopal priest) saying “..Christmas may be where it started for us but Easter is where it’s at!!..”