a blessing for Christmas Eve

Jesus, this is the great inversion
I would not have known
had you not appeared and made yourself
small.

Jesus, I would have been satisfied
with the God who moves mountains
and whose breath imparts life
but who never cried in his mother’s arms.

The world whispers to me about
what must be done.
About empires and war.
About efficiency and strength,
but there you are.
A refusal.

Your fragility, a witness.
Your dependence, an invitation.
Your cry, a reminder.
Our finitude is not an embarrassment,
because neither was yours.

Blessed are we when we see love,
at long last,
in every small and tender thing,
stealing into our world
to change us all.