Hubert was a frog. Just a little frog, but a big dreamer. One day Hubert was sat on his lily pad, watching the flies buzz past, wondering what life had in store for him. Then he remembered the fairy story of how a frog was kissed by a beautiful princess, and 'KAPOW!!!' he became the most handsome prince ever seen. The princess fell madly in love with him and they got married. He eventually became a king and was soon the richest man in the land.
"I wish I was that prince." he thought.
That night Hubert curled up on his lily pad and dreamt of becoming a prince. Sure enough he soon saw a beautiful young lady walking up to his pond. As she bent down to look at her reflection, Hubert said hello in his own special froggy way, "Ribbet". He startled the princess so much that she screamed, "Aaaaaaaargh!!!" and ran off as quickly as she could. He woke at the sound of the scream (well you would too at a scream like that). "That dream didn't turn out too well!" he thought.
Next morning Hubert woke thinking about the dream and said to himself, "Well, I quite like who I am really, but I maybe it would be good if I could find something more interesting to eat than flies." They tickle as you swallow them you know. He imagined all sorts of dishes all day long; fly soup, deep fried flies, fly cake and, his favourite, ice-cream fly surprise.
"I wish I was a famous chef." He thought.
Curled up on his lily pad that night he begun to dream. You've guessed it, he found himself in an amazing kitchen filled with gleaming pots and pans. All around
him he saw the most fabulous feasts and marvellous morsels. The finest food you could ever dream of . Then he saw loads of chefs all looking at him with interest. Rather too much interest he thought. Then he remembered HE WAS A FROG!!!! He woke suddenly from his dream - HE WAS THE NEXT ITEM ON THE MENU!!!!
It was a moonlit night as Hubert lay there thinking about why he couldn't even dream dreams with a happy ending. He noticed a large tree on a hill. How I wish I was that tree he thought. How much it must have seen through the years. How much change, how many seasons been and gone.
As he wondered a strange thing happened. He found himself in a stable looking at a manger filled with straw. Nearby a young woman had just given birth and a man carefully laid the baby in the manger.
"I wish I was that manger," Hubert thought, "so I could cradle that baby."
Next, he was in a room staring at a big table. Friends sat around it with worried expressions, all looking towards one man. He was passing some bread and a cup of wine around the table.
"I wish I was that table," he thought "then I could hear what they were talking about."
Finally, he saw the tree once more, but this time a man was hanging from it, beaten and stripped. Yet through his agony the man's eyes seemed to burrow deep into Hubert's soul, He felt loved.
Before he realised it, it was morning and as he opened his eyes he saw the tree, empty, on the hill. And he realised that the baby in the manger, the man at the table and the dying man were all the same man. Then he wondered if the baby knew his future or had his own dreams. He wondered, if the man sharing a meal with his friends know what was going to happen to him. The he remembered him hanging on the tree and how he knew everything about him. He knew Hubert's dreams and frustrations, hopes and disappointments. And for all his faults the man chose to love him for who he was.
"I wish I knew I knew that man," Hubert thought "then I would know why he loved me."
At Christmas time with all the glitz and glamour of Santa and Christmas trees, lights and decorations, it's all too easy to forget about Jesus. We remember the baby in a manger and feel holding that image in our minds. It's easy to love a baby. We often forget about his time on earth and how he sought to heal the spiritually and physically sick people he encountered. His teachings have hugely influenced generation after generation and still do today. But consider Jesus dying a cruel, agonising death nailed to a cross is all to much for us to bear during a carol service. The stark reality is - that's what Christmas is all about. God became a man to live with us, to die for us, to take away the sin that separates us from knowing God. In Jesus we can find forgiveness, not just at Christmas but at any other time of the year.
Hubert thought, "I wish I knew this man."
What about you?