Right Under Your Nose

God has a way of doing things right under your nose.  He does something in plain view, but you miss it.  You're too frenzied to notice.

Driving to school, to practice,  to the store, to . . .
Working extra hours.
Binging on Netflix.
Scrolling through your Facebook feed.
Committing to things you should have said "no" to a long time ago. 

“In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered” (Luke 2:1). 

The Roman empire was the dominant worldwide force in the 1st century.  Caesar Augustus was the most powerful man in the world, and the most well known.  But an event happened right under his nose.  A child arrived, one come to change the course of history.  And Augustus never met the man who was born under his census decree. 

Today, the whole world pauses to acknowledge the birth of Jeus. 
Caesar Augustus is a footnote in history. 

God did something in a back-alley stable that was of colossal importance, and he did it right under the world's nose.  Without human awareness, input, or knowledge.  The infant king was born, and for the most part, the world had no idea.  

God has a way of doing things right under your nose.  Without you knowing.  Without you expecting.  I'm consistently ignorant about most of what God does around me.

But the manger says that my ignorance does not diminish God’s goodness.  

I have a way of missing things.  But even if I miss something, God doesn’t.  Even if he has to do it right under my nose.  

In this week before Christmas, don't miss it.  

• Ask God to clear your mind and focus your heart.
• Be observant of little things.  
• Go for a walk in the cold.  
• Read the Nativity accounts every day (Matthew 1-2; Luke 1-2).
• Worship your King!  Sing "Joy to the World" extra loud on Christmas Eve, even if the person in front of you gives you an awkward stare.  

Jesus is here.  
God is working.  
Be attentive.