“You, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, are only a small village among all the people of Judah.
Yet a ruler of Israel, whose origins are from the distant past, will come from you on my behalf.
The people of Israel will be abandoned to their enemies until the woman in labor gives birth. Then at last his fellow countrymen will return from exile to their own land.
And he will stand to lead his flock with the LORD’s strength, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God.
Then his people will live there undisturbed, for he will be highly honored around the world.
And he will be the source of peace.” — Micah 5:2-5
“The unexpected Bethlehem King is the once and coming King, the King of the first and still coming second Advent, the King coming again to rule the earth and make all the sad things untrue. The wonderland is unfolding even now, Kingdom coming, because His Word ‘will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands’ (Isaiah 55:11-12, NIV).
The dance of the sugarplum fairies just withered a bit.
The very trees of the fields are going to dance and clap their hands. The King is coming, and the new Kingdom is stirring. And stirring in you. When the King rules your world, you cease to worry. All worry dethrones God. All worrying makes you King and God incompetent.
There is a King born in Bethlehem and on the throne. You can breathe.”
— Ann Voskamp, The Greatest Gift
(You’re right — it’s April, and we’re in Lent now, not Advent. But Olivia is a December baby, and I wanted to share her newborn session — and take the excuse to revisit Ann’s Advent devotional book, The Greatest Gift, which I love reading year-round, not just in December. I hope her words and the photos of this marvelous little family bless you.)
