I’ve already had a little chuckle in my blog about how violent the Children’s Bible can be even though it is marketed as children’s stories. Sacrificing, stoning, drowning and crucifying are not very pleasant thoughts for an adult, let alone a child.
In my son’s school newsletter the principal writes a meaningful prayer or reflection each week. Some I take with a grain of salt and others like this one below, that parallels the nativity scene with Christmas get-togethers in your home, move me.
In this frantic pressie buying and wrapping time, it made me think how we worry about what others will think of the trivial things. Our table décor, our choice of wrapping paper or the hoerderves we serve them. These are not the true focus, it’s the people gathered at out table, feeling “the humility of the stable where you were born.”
I am a Cattletick* but sometimes struggle to see and understand what it means to be one. When I first read this reflection and saw stable I thought: ‘Yeh they got that right with the current state of my house. But in all seriousness these simple words (whether you are religious or not) brought it all home. Christmas is family gathered together, “loving…freely ”
Preparing for Visitors to My Home
Wise men wandering toward the stable, visitors are heading to my house. I am so excited about this visit. But I can get so side- tracked about how my house looks, or the food that I serve. I can only keep this prayerful with your help.
Help me to stay humble this Advent and Christmas season. You invite us into the humility of the stable where you were born. Help me to remember that humbleness and the simple joy of your birth. Let me stay focused on my guests, not on myself and my worries about my house. Guide me in rejoicing in who these people are and in loving them freely.
* Cattletick – colloquialism for Catholic
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