Good Morning Friends! Miracles in His love, Monday! The other day I read an Advent devotion about Joseph…..all about his perspective of the things going on in his life with Mary and Jesus on the way. Really got me to thinking that for sure, wasn’t all just a piece of cake for him. The last few days our sheep have moved to a pasture right by the house, so as I leave for work I see them all there grazing (today one was stretched way up on a cedar tree, munching away) on the outside of the fence along the road sits a Pyrenees dog…..watching…..protecting the sheep. Still thinking about the devotion on Joseph, my mind turned to the Christmas shepherds….guarding their flocks by night. I wonder if they had guard dogs to help them…..do you think they were scared when the angels appeared? Do you think the sheep scattered and the dogs took off barking trying to gather them up again?.......Do you think the shepherds stood, just stood calmly or took off running…..maybe they clung to each other terrified…..Can you imagine……I mean really, think about it……What if you were out in a field, in the dark, maybe coon hunting and all of a sudden….BAM!!!! The sky lights up, brighter than any light you have ever seen…. You shield your eyes and look up…..you see….what is it….visions…forms like you have never seen….in the sky….and then they begin talking to you…..Things in the sky, brighter than any star or moon….talking to you…..think you might have wanted to run away and hide???? I can just imagine that at least some really considered it until the angels began to speak….”Do not be afraid” Oh don’t you just know their voices oozed with calm…They were on a most important mission and really didn’t want the shepherds to be scared…..No, they wanted to tell them the good news….Jesus our Savior is born……I am sure the shepherds wasted no time finding the stable in Bethlehem where Mary and Joseph were wrapping Jesus in swaddling clothes and lying Him in a manger…..Oh my, there was so much more to that first Christmas, starting with Gabriel’s visit to Zechariah telling him that Elizabeth would have a baby, then his visit to Mary to tell her she would be the mother of God’s Son…..then sweet Joseph, his world turned upside down…..right to the shepherds….in the field….guarding their flocks by night….Friends, let’s ponder on these things…like Mary did……this week before Christmas let’s really try to slow down from the fuss…..relax in the glow of the Christmas lights and ponder on the Light of the World….JESUS THE REASON FOR THE SEASON……Father, help us to truly feel the emotions of that First Christmas and grow in our love for YOU.
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”….So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger… The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told. Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. From Luke 2.
Love you all!
