Garden Nativity

I went to one of my local garden centres today, whilst out on various errands and shopping trips. I don’t entirely dislike all the Santas and snowmen associated with this time of year, but I’m always pleased to see a nativity scene amidst it all. This garden centre looks as if it’s about to shut down or at least has shrunk the business down to the very basics of selling only plants, and in fact this was the ONLY Christmas display that I could see. Which was quite poignant for me. It’s easy to get wrapped up in the crass materialism of the season, or any time of year really (myself included), but once it’s all stripped away, God’s gift to us remains and he’s all that really matters - the real gift that lasts, and never breaks or disappoints.

I do wish though that I’d rearranged the figures a little bit - Mary and the other woman (who is she??) seem more focused on the gifts of the Wise Men than they are on Jesus!

“She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
(Matthew 1.21)

“And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.”
(Matthew 2.11)