My friend was in the grocery store once when a man in front of her suddenly collapsed in a fit of cardiac arrest.

Luckily, she knew where the portable defibrillator was kept, allowing her to keep the man alive until a rescue crew arrived, who would later tell her that had she not acted, that man would not have made it.

If she hadn't done something, that man would be dead.

This weekend when you and I celebrate Christmas we find God in the form of an infant - a needy, dependent, frail, and defenseless, baby.

If he was like mine, more than once his parents would awaken to his crying in the middle of the night, to find he'd thrown up all over himself.

"Is it your turn to change him or mine?" the conversation might begin, as the parents live with the fact that human babies are the neediest creatures in the animal world - taking literally years to learn how to care for themselves - meaning if they won't change him, who will?

Sooner or later you and I figure out that God has put into motion a world that grants us a great deal of autonomy, control, freedom, and responsibility - we can choose to get the defibrillator or the diaper - or not.

The message of 'hope' that we get at Christmas, then, is God's hope that you and I will change the diaper. Nobody's going to make us, we won't be forced or coerced, but gently reminded that when we were once laying in that crib, someone fed, clothed, and protected us - and that, in doing so, they added to their own meaning and fulfillment as caregivers and lovers.

So we think about all the people in our circles who need diapers and defibrillators... Or a visit, a text, $100, a pat on the back, or a place to stay.

If you're like me, God is asking you to do something difficult right now... something selfless, and sacrificial that just might change the course of someone's life - and might give us a sense of fulfillment, purpose, and joy, that we've played a role in God's plan to heal the world.

So don't ignore that generous urge.

In that baby Jesus we see that God needs us to fulfill the plan, and that we need God to fulfill ourselves.