The Toddler and The Baby in a Manger

I love Christmas season. It has always played an important part in my family life. We decorated our house the last weekend of November, making it toddler-proof as much as we could. As the days went by, I caught David as he was trying to reach for the Nativity scene on top of the piano. Since the pieces aren’t breakable, I just watched, thinking that, being the rural boy he is, he was going to play with the sheep – something so familiar and ordinary to him.

Part of Our Nativity Scene

However, as I watched closely, he just grabbed the baby figure, and brought it close to Mary. I asked, “what are you doing?” and he replied, “tetita”. That’s his word for nursing. He added, “baby eat.” I thought that was cute, and left him playing. After a while, I returned, and asked “did the baby eat?” David replied, “otro lado.” The other side. Of course, I thought. A baby needs to eat his fill.

Innocent and funny as that interaction seemed, the image stayed with me throughout the day. I had never thought of Jesus as a nursing baby. However, to David, Jesus is a baby, and thus can relate so well… he being nursing baby himself. So, naturally, his first thought when seeing the baby in a manger was to pick that baby up, and bring him to his momma’s breast.

Not the case with this breastfeeding mama.

David and Mama during a nursing session

This has been a hard year for me. No big tragedy. No big disaster. It’s just been the constant day to day battles that half the time feel like I’ve lost – the kid who throws tantrums, the baby who still wakes up in the middle of the night, the kid who now is afraid of the dark, the messy floor after every single meal, the overflowing never-ending to do list. It seems that on a constant basis somebody needs something from me. I have no moments to myself.

And more often than not, I have felt like Christ and I don’t have much in common these days. How can I relate to the one who made blind men see, and the lame walk, the one who came back from the dead? Such power and glory! I often feel powerless and by no means have my act together. But David made me rethink this mystery – Who is this Immanuel, God with us, Word made flesh? Who is this God who decided to enter the world as one of us breastfeeding babies?

 “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”