A Christmas Meditation

IF I WERE GOD…
Would I have come to earth as a babe
To be born in a run down manger,
Surrounded by malodorous animals
Who to a baby could mean danger?

At the risk of perilous disease
From the livestock or in the hay.
If I were God coming to earth,
Shouldn’t there be a better way?

​If I were the God of the universe
Who created the heavens and the earth;
And if I chose to come as a baby,
How would that show My ultimate worth?

If I were God, would I come only
Garbed in swaddling clothes?
Would I depend on others to change
My diapers and wipe my nose?

Of all the places I could live
Would I choose Nazareth to dwell?
Would I live as a lowly carpenter’s son?
Is that the trade that I should learn well?

If I were God, would I choose to die
On a cross from a rough-hewn tree?
Would I stand still to be spat upon
As they jeered & cursed at me?

If I were the omnipotent God;
It would be impossible for Me to sin,
So, why would I lay down My life
For a race of wicked men?

If I were God, what would I give
To save man from eternal death?
Would I offer myself to bleed and die?
Would I give my very last breath?

If I were God in the form of man
What would I do to meet that need?
Ah! But He was God in the form of man
And He did give His life indeed.
​
© Sandra B. Schimpf
12/08/2007

Sandy Schimpf, a faithful member of Northeastern Baptist Church in Kalamazoo, wrote this poem in 2007 after attending a Christmas concert with Northeastern’s Silver Saints group in Shipshewana, Indiana. The concert featured the Collingswood Family.

Sandy shared this note with us several years ago: “Kim Collingswood shared some thoughts during the concert about something she had read or heard recently: ‘If you were God, would you come to earth to lie as a baby in a bed of straw? If you were God, would you come as a baby to have someone change your diaper?’ That thought immediately took up residence in my mind and continued to grow throughout the remainder of the concert and on the way home. When I arrived home that night after 11:00, I headed for my computer and this is the result.”

Sandy is enjoying her first Christmas with her Savior, having been ushered into His presence earlier this year. We are grateful to share this poem with you as you prepare to celebrate Immanuel.