Love, Me | 3.

Prophesied of for hundreds of years, long awaited and looked for by a nation, expected by generations, yet His arrival went practically unnoticed. Jesus, born to a little woman on the road to her betrothed's home-town. Brought into the world by just His parents with some on-looking livestock. Lay to rest in a trough, clothed in available rags. No crowds, no gifts, no glory. This is how He arrived, how His earthly purpose began. Later, those who did celebrate His arrival were the hosts of heaven and the outcasts of society, as well as a few men who had read the signs of the time as an invitation to once-in-a-lifetime birthday party.

I hear Him say, "Baby girl, dont despise small beginnings to your great callings. There is no shame in going unnoticed, uncelebrated. Our Father sees. His armies celebrate. The outcasts of society will take note of you, because theyre hungry for hope and your presence radiates it. If there are no crowds, no gifts, no apparent glory, rejoice! It isnt evidence that youre far from your calling, its evidence that youre Mine."

And thirty years later our Father thundered over Him His identity: "Beloved. Son. Well-pleasing." The Devil tempted Him to prove it but He didnt need to because He was resting in it. Then He began to walk in His purpose. For three years He now couldnt escape the crowds. He gave Himself fully -- to the point of death. There was much glory. Stripped and humiliated and brutally killed like a criminal, few cared. Three days later, resurrected and few ever knew. The biggest events in the history of the world went largely unnoticed. This purpose, this mission, that only One could ever fulfill, to restore all creation to its original intent... this forever change of everything just so we could have the opportunity restored for unity with our God... went without a party, without announcement, and without honor, except for a few.

He couldve come and recruited twelve-million but He came, walked about, and recruited twelve. Just a dozen compelled to spread the good news of restored access to unity with the Father by the Holy Spirit. They were hated and hunted by many, welcomed by a few. And the cycle continued for each child of God. Two-thousand years after the silent night in the tiny town outside of Jerusalem, the Firstborn of Many's small beginning, and today its estimated that one-third of the entire world is made up of sons and daughters of God.

"Abraham was promised he would be the father of many nations but only lived to father one child. It only took one. A small beginning to many nations, but a beginning none-the-less. Foolishness to the world's wise are these little starting points, but I am the God of life -- I created it to begin unpretentiously divine. I treasured you as a full-being when you were newly conceived. I saw you before you were perceivable to any human eye. I knew you before your mother knew you were in her womb. The start is never the pinnacle, its the forerunning messenger of all that is to come. When I said, 'Let there be light,' it wasnt the culmination of what I was doing, it was the start of the preparation of a place for a people, and an amazing story of how those people would be united with Me forever and share in a great Wedding Feast in the fulness of time. So dont despise small beginnings, baby girl, celebrate them."