Its Christmas. To some this time of the season is sad and lonely. To others its a time of celebration watching the children's excitement as they see their gifts under the tree the thrill as they open the presents that they have waited sometimes not so patiently to do. How is it that Christmas has been so poorly represented in that last number of years and why are people so afraid to wish someone a Merry Christmas. It makes me feel so sad at times that we have to try and eliminate the best gift ever offered to mankind. The birth of that child who would some day become the savior and who will someday return as the King of Kings who when he comes every knee will bow before him.
For a moment tho' I would like to take you back in time. Imagine a middle eastern town normally fairly quiet, its residents would go about minding their own business. Not today, today the city was crowded overflowing with strangers, people who had come to this little town of Bethlehem to be counted because it was the law under the order of Caesar Augusta. So every single place a person could sleep was taken. No more hotel rooms available. I imagine that there were those who even slept out on the streets.
Then along comes this couple. They are young and she is very pregnant, but they had to come because her husband was from this town by lineage. They didn't know where to go or where they could even sleep. They just knew they had to be here. So after knocking on all the doors they could for a room and still no place for them to sleep I would think that they were beginning to get a bit discouraged. Yet one more place to try. As they knocked fear of being turned down yet again gripped their hearts. The inn keeper tried to make them understand he had no more rooms to rent, his heart went out to them as he could see that this women would soon give birth. Finally as almost a last thought he mentioned that he did have a stable out back where he kept his animals a few sheep,some goats a pig or two and a couple of cows and of course his donkey. They could have that for a good rate if they wanted even though he knew it wasn't a place for a pregnant woman but that is the best he could do under the circumstances. This young couple jumped at it, finally a place to rest a place to lay down. They could make it work, the inn keeper said they could use all the straw they needed to make things as comfortable as they could. Now this stable was nothing glamorous, it had the smell of the animals and their dropping lay strewn throughout this little place,but it would be their home for the next few days.
Now I am not sure if it happened that night or the next but it did happen she went into labor. Was there anyone around to help besides her husband I am not sure. Maybe some of the other ladies who had seen this young woman's plight came to give her a helping hand in the birth of her child. She did give birth and this child she gave birth to was a son. This was no surprise as she had been told this nine months earlier by the angel that had come to visit her. Here he was this special child who was to become king, who was to be the messiah, the one who was all God and all man born here in such humble settings it didn't make sense but this was the way it was. This couple like any other couple loved their child and felt proud like so many couple do.
Out in the country in the cool of that dark night as was custom Sheppard's tended to their sheep. To them it was just an ordinary night, the way it had been for more nights then they would dare to recall. It was quiet the sheep had gone to sleep and as was typical these men huddled around the glowing embers of a fire that was slowly dying. Some had already dozed off, others still quietly talked while other heads bobbed starting to fall asleep. Then it happened, a piercing light shattered the blackness nearly blinding them and the chorus of Angels broke the silence. This was a sight that threw them to their knees. Fear gripped them. What was this why had this happened to them. The crescendo of the song rose in an anthem of Praise to a child that was born in the town just up the road. After the Sheppard's were able to gather themselves from seeing and hearing such a sight they found their way into Bethlehem where this child lay and humbly bowed.
I don't know if the angels sang any more songs or what the words were, I do know that the words were songs of praise and adoration to Jesus the child born in the stable. I also think that these angels sang from the very depth of their being as they announced the birth of their creator the savior of mankind to this earth. Tho' he had always been, God was placing his foot back on this earth and the time had come for the plan of salvation to be put into place.
So this year as you sing the songs of the season remember the true reason for it God coming to this earth to save us. And when you sing those songs sing them with all your heart sing them with passion, with sincerity and sing them out of Love. Remember that night,Remember what it means and raise your voices and souls in Praise to our Living Lord and King JESUS.
HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND MAY HIS RICHEST BLESSINGS FALL ON YOU IN THE NEW YEAR
DCW
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