The Greatest Fairytale Ever Lived: When the Stars Aligned
Two-thousand and twenty-four years ago, the stars aligned and the Creator of the Universe put on flesh like a robe. He stepped down from a throne, and entered our broken world, through a cold, dusty stable. He was cradled in the arms of loving, but flawed humans—at their mercy even—depending on shortsighted mortals to care for Him throughout His vulnerable years.
He didn't forget His Kingship, He only left it hanging on a coat hook on the other side. The eyes that had seen the sun's birth now winced at the light of the dim moon. The hands that had stretched the stars out like a curtain and sculpted man from mud now strained to even grasp man's large finger. The heart which had ached for millennia, watching the suffering of mankind—waiting earnestly for this night—was finally flesh, beating with each hard-won breath of cold air.
How He must have longed for this moment: the first of a thirty-year-long gift of God-with-us that, by the end, would secure Him an eternity of us-with-Him. It's the perfect fairytale. The most beautiful story ever told. Eternity entered into the stable that night, the God which plague and pestilence obey, stepping down from all-power and perfection to enter our dirty realm in the frail, little body of a baby, and with the sole goal to die. It's a story unlike any other. The wildest fairytale that is our reality.
He bled more than just on the cross. He stubbed His toes, pinched His fingers, went hungry, shivered in the cold, faced the death of a parent, felt alone. And the worst—and best—part of it is: He didn't have to. He had access to the control panel the whole time. He could've put an end to it all, and gone back to the comfort of His divine palace at any moment. But He didn't.
And how He thought of each of us. At the birth and at the cross. He was doing this for us—for me—for you. And just to make a statement that would echo across eternity: this is how far He would go to reconcile His creations to Himself, down to the worst, smallest, and most wretched of us. It's the greatest fairytale ever told, because it's the only fairytale ever lived and still living today.
Even before the birth of the world, when you and I were nothing but precious ideas, inspired masterpieces yet to be realized. He knew we would need to be saved from the evil lurking in this universe. Redeemed from mistakes and regrets, healed of wounds that none of us deserved. And He was warmed in His heart at the thought of bringing you life in spite of it all.
Even then, He knew all the suffering in eternity was worth enduring, if you could only exist, and live in abundance, peace, and joy. Even then, He knew that He would die a thousand deaths if you could only live and have the chance to live forever with Him.
He had no obligations to die for us. The God of the Universe could have decided to leave mankind as nothing but an unrealized idea. He could've snapped His fingers and ended everything at any moment, erasing our pain and His with it. He didn't have to bring us to life, knowing just what it would cost Him to redeem us. But He wanted to. He thought you were worth the struggle—the heartache—the eternal reward of knowing you and being known by you.
Have you met Him? The God which plague and pestilence obey? The God that spread the vastness of space out like a little curtain? Which the atoms and the elements of the realms line up eagerly to heed. The One that thought of your every detail—your likes and dislikes, passions and fears, desires and needs.
The God that thought a little person made of mud could be so beautiful that He wanted to put the breath of His own lungs and the image of His own heart inside you. The God that can speak life into existence, and yet took the time to knit your DNA by His own hands. The God that designed, planned, lived, died, and conquered death for you.
He tells us that He’s near to us, and you may believe He’s as near as the closest star is distant, but He's closer than you know. For if you turned to Him, you would run right into His chest. And whether you're able to feel it or not, His hands are on your shoulders, aching to embrace you. Will you look to Him? It's all He wants. That you let Him embrace you.