AS WE APPROACH another Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ, I cannot help but smile as I remember the story that my elder daughter told me just over a year ago. She works as an English teacher in a secondary school and teaches pupils from age eleven through to age eighteen, of all mixed abilities.

Last year she was given the task of organising a group of eleven year olds to perform the traditional nativity play. Despite numerous ‘rehearsals’ however, she found it quite an uphill struggle to lick into shape a convincing Mary and Joseph, to say nothing of the shepherds and Magi. The infant Jesus, of course, was portrayed by the usual baby doll – as life-sized and life-like as possible.

Eventually the day of the great performance arrived and my daughter felt quietly confident. All went well until ‘Mary’ fluffed her lines and ‘Joseph’ who was currently holding ‘baby Jesus’ became distracted by his ‘wife’s’ mistake.

Flapping his hands around in agitation, he let go of the doll which fell to the floor with a resounding crash. This was followed by a stunned silence and then howls of laughter from actors and audience alike!

In our adult lives, we too, can be equally guilty of ‘dropping’ Jesus. There may be those occasions when we forget or fail to find the time to pray. Furthermore, we often neglect our personal relationship with the Lord in favour of