I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed. Genesis 3:15

In the beginning, God created….maybe you’ve heard the story about the shapeless, bottomless, empty, inky black, watery abyss that existed before God created light. When he determined that light was a good thing, he separated the light from the darkness and called them “day” and “night.” And all that happened on day one. On the second day of creation, God determined that there should be space between the waters of the earth and the waters of the heavens, thus naming that space “sky.”

And the story goes on to tell us that God separated the waters on earth resulting in dry land which then brought forth vegetation. The plant life needed sunshine but it also needed a rest from the hot sun and so began the daily rotation of sunlight and darkness and, of course, rains from the heavens. Next came the fish of the sea and the animals of the land and, finally, God created “humans” in his own image and told them to go forth and multiply. And then he rested.

Now here’s where things get a little sticky. God had placed the man into a lush and beautiful garden and told him that he could eat anything he wanted except he was not to touch the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” But then God thought that man needed a helper and he created a woman from one of the man’s own ribs. Now, I’m not one of those who think that woman was the ultimate downfall of man. What happened in the garden was an exercise in human freedom of decision resulting from outside influences. God knew when he created humans that they would one day need a Savior. And Jesus, being one with God, knew that he would be the sacrifice that would offer grace and mercy to humans.

When that initial fall from grace had transpired, God assessed punishments to the woman and to the serpent, Satan, who had tempted her. And for many millennia, humans went about their lives and made choices that were not in line with the Word of God. Until one day when Father and Son decided it was time to send that Savior to earth. Eden was the beginning, the first sin committed by humans but still, we live in a dark and troubled world today, the majority of people not wanting to believe in creation or a supreme being who controls the universe. Many others have never even heard the name of Jesus.

As we prepare our hearts for the annual celebration of his birth, it is important to note that God always knew that we would come face to face with temptation and would fall from grace in so many ways. But he always had a plan for our redemption. And that plan came together in a very unexpected way through an immaculate conception guaranteeing that her “seed” would be the “ultimate” seed because no man was involved, only God. A virgin was chosen to assure purity for the resting place of God’s only son until the proper time for his birthing. The virgin’s betrothed accepted her story and married her even though he was not the father of her first child. A ruler invoked a census causing the couple to travel for days over a barren desert in her final days of pregnancy. An innkeeper turned them away from a comfortable bed because the city was overrun by citizens in compliance with the census. At long last, they were offered a stable in which to bed down, and none too soon, for her labor started almost immediately. There was no adoring family present with the couple to share in the birth of this child, only the animals in their stalls and later a few scruffy shepherds. The Christ Child entered the human world and no one even knew, they were too busy living life their way. Oh, yes, there was an evil king who knew and in his anger over the deception perpetrated by some very “wise” men, he ordered the murder of countless baby boys in the hope of killing this one called Jesus.

Also according to God’s plan, it was not yet Jesus’ time to die…he had work to do before his journey to the cross began. And work he did, walking in sandaled feet on burning deserts, often going days with little rest or food. He only had a limited time to reach as many people as possible. All of that was for us because God knew from the very beginning what his plan for our salvation would be. So you see, the trek from Eden to Bethlehem is not as far as we might think.

We only find out where we are when we find out where He is.

We only find ourselves…when we find Him.

We lost ourselves at one tree. And only find ourselves at another.

Ann Voskamp, The Greatest Gift: Unwrapping the Full Love Story of Christmas