I went to a Christmas Pageant on Sunday night.   A real-life children’s Christmas Pageant, complete with little angels, three foot tall shepherds, various costumed pre-schoolers disguised as stable animals, and a live Baby Jesus.

The manger looked suspiciously like an infant car seat with a towel over it, but somehow it worked.  And Baby Jesus behaved, unlike one of the stable cows who wandered all over the platform patting everyone on the tops of their heads throughout much of the performance.

It wasn’t perfect, but it made me smile.

The night Christ was born wasn’t “perfect” either.  I’m sure the manger wasn’t near as comfortable as an infant car seat.  And while we like to think of the stable animals as being quiet and adoring, they might not have been all that well-behaved.  After all, they weren’t used to sharing their space with a newborn, his parents and visiting shepherds.

All in all, this baby Jesus came into a pretty imperfect world.  But that’s exactly why He came.

And that makes me smile.

For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. Luke 2:11

And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins. Matthew 1:21

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.  Titus 2:11