{"id":23365,"date":"2025-12-07T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-07T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/?p=23365"},"modified":"2025-12-05T03:42:48","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T09:42:48","slug":"a-fathers-love-at-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/?p=23365","title":{"rendered":"A Father\u2019s Love at Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Every December, I set out my nativity scenes \u2014 all dozen-plus of them \u2014 but this year — something sweet caught my eye. Nearly every set shows Mary looking tenderly at Jesus in the manger or holding Him close, as any new mother would. But among all the figures, one nativity stood out from the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In that one, it wasn\u2019t Mary holding Baby Jesus — it was Joseph.
Something in me stopped \u2014 stilled \u2014 softened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A father holding the Son of God.
The carpenter embracing the Cornerstone.
A simple man holding the Savior of the world — with the same tenderness any new daddy feels when his child is placed into his arms for the very first time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And suddenly, Joseph wasn\u2019t just a nativity figurine.
He was every father who has loved a baby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I thought about Tim Tebow recently holding his new baby girl \u2014 the way his whole face lit up like Christmas morning, the gentle awe, the protective tenderness. There\u2019s something unmistakably holy about the way a father looks at his child. No fear. No hesitation. Just love \u2014 pure and poured out.
<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe that\u2019s why Joseph\u2019s moment moved me so deeply.
Because our Heavenly Father loves us like that.
Not from a distance.
Not through glass or cold tradition.
But up close, warm, steady, strong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our Father doesn\u2019t flinch when He holds us.
He isn\u2019t bored.
He isn\u2019t preoccupied.
He delights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just as Joseph held Jesus, and just as modern daddies beam at their babies, our Father holds us \u2014 boys, girls, young, old \u2014 not with favoritism, but with fullness. We are His, and He is ours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that\u2019s part of the Christmas miracle we often overlook.
Yes, a Savior was born.
Yes, a Messiah came.
But He came to show us the Father\u2019s heart \u2014 a heart so full of love that He wrapped Himself in flesh, placed Himself in a manger, and grew up to stretch His arms wide enough to gather the whole world in an everlasting embrace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So this year, as I look at my nativity scenes \u2014 especially that one where Joseph holds Jesus \u2014 I\u2019m reminded:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christmas isn\u2019t just about a baby in a manger.
It\u2019s about a Father in heaven who loves His children more than we can imagine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And oh, what a beautiful thing it is to be held by Him!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every December, I set out my nativity scenes \u2014 all dozen-plus of them \u2014 but this year — something sweet caught my eye. Nearly every set shows Mary looking tenderly at Jesus in the manger or holding Him close, as any new mother would. But among all the figures, one nativity stood out from the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23367,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1210,1769,32933,31453,32931,267,1600,15046,15994,40,540,15848,30921,20926,4221,32930],"class_list":["post-23365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-blog","tag-christian","tag-christmas-miracle","tag-cornerstone","tag-demi-tebow","tag-faith","tag-father","tag-fathers-heart","tag-fathers-love","tag-inspiration","tag-joseph","tag-messiah","tag-nativity-scenes","tag-our-father","tag-savior","tag-tim-tebow"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23365"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23365\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23372,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23365\/revisions\/23372"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}