By Dr. Sheila Schuller Coleman
Who needs an alarm clock when you have a brand new baby? As a new mother, I was stunned at how the cry of a newborn baby could awaken my husband and I no matter how tired we were. There is no snooze button to hit when a baby cries. You get up and care for your infant and then, hopefully, get back to sleep. As new parents, you begin to long for the time when the baby will sleep through the night.
But, oh, the first time we heard the cry of each of our sons. The birth of our child-that first cry-he is born! Our child is born! A new life! After waiting and expecting and hoping and praying, finally the birth day arrived and the first breaths were heralded by the cry-a cry that made me and my husband cry-with joy.
The world was in desperate need of a Savior. The Messiah had been foretold and eagerly awaited. God's dream for His children was that they would be saved and redeemed from dead-end lives. And God did not keep His dream a secret. He gave us hints, hundreds of them through the prophets so we would recognize with certainty His only begotten Son.
So, for hundreds of years The Jewish nation eagerly anticipated, waiting, hoping, and expecting the arrival of the Messiah. I am sure they thought He would be born as the previous sons of kings had been born-with much heraldry and fanfare and in a palace, wrapped in silks.
Jesus-born to a teenage, unwed, virgin mother in a cave surrounded not by palace guards, but lowly beasts, cried out and awakened God's dream. This wake up call was accompanied by a heavenly host announcing that God's Son had been born. The Messiah had come. And as a result-we could have everlasting life.
May you celebrate God's wake-up call-the cry of a newborn baby-His Son. May His redemptive love awaken God's dream in your life today.
