Every year on Christmas Eve, our church has a live nativity as a part of the Christmas Eve service. We start in the sanctuary, and as the Christmas story is read, various characters join the scene. This year, Alex, Brooks, and I had the honor of being Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus, while Jackson and Reeves were excited to be shepherds.
The best part of the night is always after the service when the nativity moves to the front lawn of the church, and we bring out the live animals: sheep, cows, and a camel. This year’s scene even included a baby donkey. Now, I don’t know if you’ve ever seen a baby donkey, but let me tell you, they are super cute.
Yet, as I watched everyone “ooh” and “ahh” over this baby donkey, I started to get annoyed . . . and maybe a little jealous. I mean, there I was, holding the Christ child—played by the cutest baby ever, if I do say so myself—and nobody was paying us any attention. All eyes were on that dumb donkey.
I turned to Alex and complained, “Man, Al, they’re looking at the wrong baby!”
And then it hit me. How often do I look at the wrong baby? How often am I the one who loses focus? How often do I take my eyes off of Jesus?
Let’s be real—it’s easy to get distracted in today’s world. I get preoccupied by social media, episodes of my favorite TV shows, and good books, just to name a few. This week alone, I’ve been so wrapped up in helping the boys make their valentines, I’ve completely neglected my Bible study.
Even when I try to focus on Jesus, my mind often wanders. I start to pray, and the next thing I know, I’m making my grocery list. Or, I start reading a devotion on my phone, and before long, I’m Googling why Cardi B. was so mad after the Grammy’s, she shut down her Instagram account.
I have good intentions, but I end up going down the rabbit hole, and pretty soon, Jesus is the last thing on my mind. And that’s when things start to get rough.
The boys love the story of Peter walking on water. Reeves thinks of him as a superhero with special powers, kinda like Aquaman, I guess. While there is special power going on in the story, it’s not coming from Peter.
In the story in the book of Matthew, Peter, a little skeptical of Jesus’ appearance on the lake, asks to walk on the water toward him. Things are going great for Peter . . . until he takes his eyes off of Jesus. When he looks at the wind, he becomes afraid and starts to sink. Immediately, Jesus reaches out his hand and saves Peter.
I can feel the same thing happening to me when I pay more attention to everything swirling around me instead of focusing on Jesus. I start to feel overwhelmed, like I’m drowning in my to-do list, my commitments, my fears. But when I take time to just sit and be still, to listen to a favorite hymn, to read and study the Bible, I get a sense of calm, a feeling of peace. He saves me from drowning in all that “stuff” when I turn my eyes to Him.
My distractions change from day to day, but, thankfully, God doesn’t change. He’s always there, constant and consistent, waiting for me to regain my focus.
The live nativity was a fun experience for my whole family, one I hope the boys will always remember. But for me, it was more than that. For me, the memory reminds me to stay focused on the right baby all year long.