Where Does God Fit In?

At Christmastime each year, a schoolteacher in England would supervise the construction of a manger scene in a corner of the classroom. It delighted her pupils to set up the model barn and cover the floor with real straw and then arrange the clay figures of Mary and Joseph and the shepherds and the Wise Men and the animals — all facing a little crib in which a tiny doll lay representing the Infant Jesus. One third grader could not tear himself away from it. He kept returning to it, and each time, he stood there completely engrossed with a puzzled expression on his face. The teacher noticed him and asked, “Do you have a question? Tell me, what would you like to know?” With his eyes still glued to the manger scene, the boy said slowly, “What I’d like to know is, where does God fit in?”

This is the season when, in the spirit of high hopes and great expectations, little children wonderfully…