The Throne of God

On Christmas Day, amidst the packages and the baking, the playing and the eating, I found myself thinking again and again of that first Christmas morning so long ago. It was such a simple scene by Christmas Day. The baby had been born, and the shepherds were back in their fields. There was nothing for Mary to do but admire what she and God had created, that perfect little boy.

I once read Mary described as the Seat of Wisdom and the Throne of God. They are my favorite of all the titles I’ve ever heard for the Blessed Mother. I love the idea of her sitting to fold laundry and her little boy snuggling into the familiar place on her lap with her chin resting on his downy head.  I imagine her inhaling that familiar tangy smell of a young boy  exhausted from play, and loving it even as she crinkled her nose. “Tell me a story, Mama, let me sit with you…”

There is so much that is awe-inspiring in the stories of Jesus Christ, and yet I find such peace in thoughts of the ordinary days of his childhood. What a contradiction he was – vulnerable child and Almighty God. And so was she – adoring and humble mother…and yet her lap was the place where God had to ask permission to sit.

At the time of Jesus’s conception, God could have chosen for His Son any of the great kingdoms and thrones of the Earth, and yet he did not. When given the choice of any throne that ever was or is to be, Our Heavenly Father gave to Him the most humble and simple seat of all, that of his loving mother’s lap.

Image by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo [Public domain or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons