A nice reminder

Last year I bought a really nice nativity set (Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus) that I could put outside our house to remind us and everyone around us that we know Christmas is about Jesus.  It's really nice, and Keyan reminds me teasingly that it had a really nice price tag, too.  Yes, but this is one of those purchases that I anticipate having for the rest of my life.  Therefore, quality sometimes costs a bit more.  So, that's the background.  Today, Elyse was helping sweep up some dirt that happened to be next to the baby Jesus and she quietly came to me and showed me that baby Jesus' arm had fallen off.   I guess she hit it with the broom and it broke right off.  My heart sank.  My first gut reaction was "Oh no....do you know how much this cost?  What were you doing?  Didn't I tell you to be careful with the baby Jesus?"  But....I held my tongue and I really looked at Elyse and could see those tears forming in her eyes.  She already felt bad.  She already knew that this was not a good thing.  And thinking about what that Baby Jesus symbolizes to me, I quietly said, "Well, I guess we'll have to fix it.  You can help me."  And she quickly rebounded back to her happy self.  So, we made a "hospital" to bring Baby Jesus to, and I glued the arm back on.  Then I noticed that three of the fingers were missing....and I had just swept up that area and thrown the dirt into the garbage.  So, we looked through the garbage and retrieved one fingertip, but couldn't find any others.  While gluing on the one, I noticed the thumb broken off was cradled inside a nook on Baby Jesus.  But no luck with the third missing finger.  As we were gluing on the fingers, I was really overcome with emotion as I thought how ironic this was.  Here I was tenderly gluing the fingers back onto Baby Jesus so that he could be whole again and in reality, He is the one who will tenderly "fix" me so that I can be whole again.  So, maybe not finding that third missing finger is going to be a sweet reminder for us all, and especially me, that it is indeed the Savior that will lovingly look after me and when things go wrong, He will tenderly pick up the pieces and help me with the utmost love and compassion.  I know that without a doubt and I'm grateful for the little reminder.