That’s all it was – just a feeding trough, probably cut out of stone, in a cave stable – the cradle of Our Lord in his nursery.
Alpha, Omega…
King of kings…
Lord of lords…
Immanuel…
found a home…
in the humble…
in a stable.
“…she gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes,
and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn.” (Luke 2:7)
Don’t you ever wish we had some Scripture written by a woman?
But the ancient days were a different time.
If some were written, they may have been suppressed or vilified…
not by God, Love doesn’t make silly sexist decisions…but humans do.
Both women and men were, at the time, completely sexist.
But I wonder, how can we really see Christmas without a mother’s point of view.
And there was no place to have the baby but in a stable.
I would have thought, “A stable? Really?”
And maybe Mary would have felt uncertainty, because she was human.
But I somehow think that she would have ended up with different words.
Maybe…
“A stable! I get it.”
She had to have been that magnificent to have qualified as mother of God.
Love was born, Christmas day, in a stable.
I get it.
I’ve been in a stable (a figurative one) for months, maybe decades.
I’ve found God’s stables are a place where we can feel limited. They may be a place of discipline. They may be a place of shelter. But they can be a place of miracles. Almost all of my “stable” experiences have seen the prodigious love of Our Lord, and his fittingly austere discipline, both at the same time.
The stables have been used to fashion me into a half usable vessel.
Every Christian “stable” has a meaning and a purpose…
because Our Lord has his hand on every Christian life (Romans 8:28).
If you happen to be in a “stable”…
I know as surely as I know that God is Love …
that God does not intend for you to waste your pain.
Christians should never waste pain.
Stables are harsh…
sharp straw, splintered wood, cold stone.
If you’re in a “stable”, I’ll be praying for you today…
I’ll be praying for you nearly every hour of this last day of history.
Because history will not end today, and most likely neither will your “stable” experience.
I’ll be asking Our Lord all day, that not an ounce of your pain go for naught…
and that out of your “stable” may proceed true light of wisdom and true love of God.
Merry Christmas
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
You’re in a stable; I’m in a stable—different, but similar in some ways. Thanks for pointing out that the pain does not have to be wasted but can be transformed into something touched with heavenly glory. I’m finding pure gold that could not be discovered apart from time in the stable.
May we worship as the “true light of wisdom and true love of God” turn our stables into hallowed places where the Son of God makes His presence known.
Thank you Craig! “I’ll be asking Our Lord all day, that not an ounce of your pain go for naught…
and that out of your “stable” may proceed true light of wisdom and true love of God.” I so appreciate this prayer. I have been thinking over this last year and all the pain, that maybe, just maybe I am starting to understand that quote I told you once…… “Pain is our friend” from Larry Crabb. It has been a companion to me this last year in ways that have been been heart breaking, but it has produced tat light of wisdom and I have seen the love of God through the pain. Know I will be praying the same for you. Hope you had a great Christmas. Bye the way……. I have been praying and thinking over my “Word” for next year and don’t have one yet. Have you?
thank you for your prayers for our pain to be put to good use…every drop.
praying for your pain, too, craig, to continue to be put to good use as you seem to be able to do so well here with your insights.
Absolutely beautiful Craig!
May God turn all your mourning into dancing…praying for you. God bless and best wishes for the New Year.