Decorate The Cross

I am weird.

SURPRISE!

I tend to think of the cross at christmas time, and at Easter think of the manger. No rule against it. The bible says , "HE IS BORN", "HE IS CRUCIFIED" and "HE IS RISEN". So as long as you know what the definition of "is" is, you should be okay with my weirdness on this subject.

I think it might be because I tend to look at my children this way. I held my son in my arms and cried thinking he might one day be a soldier, and my daughter nearly died at birth (cord around her neck twice, no pulse, no breathing, CPR) after that trauma I enjoyed sleeping when she slept; waking when she woke; but cried knowing that she was my last baby, when she grew up I would be retired as a mom. So every first was also a last.

Now I see them both doing grown up things and picture them as children. I remember the principles office after a poor choice, a parents phone call after a thrown rock.

When they have the same job for a year ( I am so proud of you punkin') - but lose a good friend, I remember the playground where children have several best friends in a year, but in high school and beyond, as a parent you get attached to these friends, they call you "mom", then they are gone. I go back to the playground, once again.

When they get married and learn to be a part of another family...then experience domestic violence and stand up to it even when the charges get dropped and it looks like the bad guys win ( I am so proud of you Judah and Brittney). I go back to the little league coach with the temper, I go back to the High School Football days of using binoculars to see if his face would tell me how bad that last hit hurt. But He's a man, walking in a man's shoes. It's not the principles office its the bosses office asking for a raise; or the lawyers office wondering if the @#$#*3 that hit his wife is gonna get what he deserves. That's when I think of the playoff game where we won the game but he was hurt by some jerk kid who twisted his leg after the tackle. (I'm over it) The team went on to win a few more games but the last game of your senior year is always either a state championship, or a loss...and young men cry either way(Especially, if you think you might have been able to help your team if some jerk kid hadn't...but wait, seriously, I am over it).

Mary, the mother of Jesus, saw a baby in a manger, and a man crucified. Did she wonder in the manger would he be tortured in his life? Jews have always been at the mercy of the society around them with only their faith to strengthen and guide them - her pregnancy was different - would her son be also? Did she stand at the cross and remember the manger - how the star shone bright but how dark the skies are now? How she nurtured GOD at her breast, but how his thirst is mocked with a vinegar filled sponge today?

Yup, I am weird.