But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.
Galatians 4:4–7
The name of this child is “Wonderful Counselor” (Isa. 9:6). In him, the greatest wonder of all has happened: the Savior’s birth came from God’s eternal plan. God gave us his Son in the form of a human child. God became human; the Word became flesh (John 1:14). This is the incredible wonder of God’s love for us. It is through this wise and Wonderful Counselor that we are saved and won over by God’s love.
Because this child of God is the Wonderful Counselor, he is also the source of all wonders and all wisdom. For those who see Jesus as the Son of God, every one of his actions and words becomes a wonder. They find in him the deepest, most meaningful, and most helpful answers to all their needs and questions.
Even before this child can speak, he is already full of wonder and wisdom. Go to the child in the manger. Believe that he is the Son of God, and you will find wonder after wonder, and counsel after counsel.
In winter it seems that the season of Spring will never come, and in both Advent and Lent it’s the waiting that’s hard, the in-between of divine promise and its fulfillment.… Most of us find ourselves dangling in this hiatus, which in the interval may seem a waste of time.… But “the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.” With such motivation, we can wait as we sense that God is indeed with us, and at work within us, as he was with Mary as the Child within her grew.
Poet Luci Shaw, in God with Us
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. God Is in the Manger : Reflections on Advent and Christmas. Louisville, Presbyterian Publishing Corporation, 2012.
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