See Amid the Winters Snow:

“Lo, within a manger lies, He who built the starry skies”

Written by Phil Wadsworth

People have always looked at the stars. We gave nearby ones names and personalities – the Bible (Baruch 3:34) says ‘The stars shone in their watches, and were glad; He called them and they said, “Here we are!” They shone with gladness for Him Who made them.’ The Magi and many others looked to them for guidance and prophecy. They’ve always invoked awe and wonder at God’s majesty and purpose.

Today’s scientific instruments look beyond the visible stars. The number of stars in a galaxy and of galaxies, the distances involved, the timespans, are expressed as numbers so large that they cannot be grasped. The types of objects and processes we’ve discovered, the evolution of the Universe from the Big Bang, the laws governing everything from interactions of sub-atomic particles to the nature of space and time, continue to push against the limits of the human intellect. Yet all of this, physical objects and laws, all the immensity and complexity, was instantaneously within the mind of God at Creation.

Then we see ourselves: For all the complexity of mind and body infinitesimal dots on the surface of a planet which shrinks to almost nothing when considered against the Universe as a whole. How can we even be noticed as a species, yet alone considered individually?

Yet God, Who knows everything, had, and has, each person in mind. He knew that this was beyond us, that we couldn’t comprehend His purpose for each of us, individually, even given His words and works as recorded in the Old Testament. So, at Christmas, He Who build the starry skies became a human baby, so that each of us might be able fully to relate personally to God and understand how to live. A truth so profound that, like the starry skies, it defies understanding, yet at the same time is as simple as reaching out to a friend whom we know.